A journalist was on Monday injured as police engaged residents of Brooke in Kericho in running battles in yet another incident of tea farm invasion.
The Kericho-based Nation reporter Vitalis Kimutai was hit by a stone on the forehead as he covered the unfolding scenario.
The youths who barricaded the highway while pelting police and vehicles with stones, he said, "did not want anyone to take photographs and videos of the protests".
"I was taking photographs when a stone thrown from the balcony of a storey building hit me on the forehead," said Kimutai.
He was, however, treated at Ketepa tea company health centre and later discharged.
Earlier on, the residents invaded the estate and torched tea-plucking machines belonging to Ekaterra in protest over mechanisation.
Kericho Governor Eric Mutai's motorcade was also not spared by the angry mob.
Mutai had visited the area to try and calm the group that blocked the Kericho-Nakuru highway causing transport paralysis for several hours.
Cases of locals invading and destroying properties at the tea estates began late last year with the torching of 10 machines.
While the companies have continued to invest millions in the machines, local leaders argue this was coming at a great cost to tea farmers who are losing work and money.
“Since this system was started, we have seen the number of workers decline from 50,000 to 10,000 while Kericho is now a ghost town due to job losses,” Mutai said in a past address while accusing the companies of embarking on procurement without consulting the leaders to discuss its implications on employment.
