By Kinyuru Munuhe and Bernice Mbugua: People Daily
It was a rude awakening for the detained lawmakers charged with incitement to violence when they were forced to spend their night and day on a cold floor in filthy police cells at Pangani and Muthaiga police stations.
And in an unprecedented move, the lawmakers were only allowed access to basic necessities such as food and limited visits from close relatives, such as spouses and children.
The MPS had to bear with moving around with one shoe each, sleeping on a cold floor with neither the luxury of blanket or mattress and do with boiled cabbage and ugali. In the morning they were served weak milk tea without sugar with a slice of bread without butter, rare fare by their standards. On top of that, the legislators are said to have gaped with utter disbelief when they were forced to share the cells with all sorts of social misfits, ranging from muggers, drunkards, street children and capital offenders.
The painful reality of tasting, quite literally, how other Kenyans live, dawned on them after the High Court dismissed an application seeking their release.
Justice Joseph Onguto directed the parties to appear before him today to hear the grounds for dismissal. Nairobi chief magistrate Daniel Ogembo on Tuesday granted orders detaining Aisha Jumwa (Kilifi), Florence Mutua (Busia), Junet Mohamed (Suna East), Timothy Bosire (Nyaribari Chache), Ferdinand Waititu (Kabete), Moses Kuria (Gatundu South), Kimani Ngunjiri (Bahati) and Johnstone Muthama (Machakos Senator) for four days as police conclude investigations.
Seeking bail
Yesterday, the five Cord MPs moved to the High Court through 10 counsel led by James Orengo seeking bail.
The rest, three Jubilee MPs, sought to be enjoined in the suit through their lawyers Francis Munyoro, Harisson Kinyanjui and Wycliffe Osundwa stating that they were part of the lower court miscellaneous application which affected them too. Justice Onguto enjoined them, noting that all of them raised similar issues and it will be waste of Judicial time for them to file separate applications.
The Cord MPs, through Orengo, claimed that despite being held in custody for a collective period of 18 hours they had not been allowed food, water, drink, medication nor access to their counsel, spouses or relatives. However, Director of Public Prosecutions through State Prosecutor Leonard Maingi said he would ensure they have access to the necessities prayed for.
As the court struck the blow, Muthama, Mohamed, Bosire, Kuria, Waititu and Ngunjiri cooled their heels at Pangani Police Station cells while their female colleagues, Mrs Mutua and Jumwa were detained at Muthaiga Police Station.
Drama played out after Mohamed’s wife Deka Jamaa claimed she had been denied access to the MP during Iftar with foodstuffs required to break the fast during Ramadhan. “We have been here since morning and we are unable to see them. For God’s sake, they are our husbands. They have not killed anybody,” Deka protested.
Visiting spouses
Waititu’s wife, Susan Ndung’u and Kuria’s wife Joyce Njambi Kuria were among those who spent long hours camping outside Pangani Police demanding to see their spouses.
Unlike the lavish privileges enjoyed in the National Assembly and Senate, as well as in their residences in leafy suburbs, the legislators spent Tuesday night on the floor without mattresses and on empty stomachs. Police sources say only Kuria and Waititu appeared to be at home after they reluctantly succumbed and ate some small portion of ivory-coloured ugali and cabbage made in watery soup, the normal fare served to detained suspects. All the male legislators are booked in one cell shared with other prisoners, where they were crammed like sardines.
As is routine, they were forced to remove one shoe each, belts, ties, all valuables such as cash and ornaments, as well as deposit mobile telephones with the officers at the Report Office. “Muthama declined to eat police food, but his relatives were allowed to bring in some foodstuffs,” police sources intimated. Muthama is a gemstone dealer.
“They all had cordial conversations all through. They have to cope with the untidiness in police cells, ” the police source added.
Heavily armed police officers dispersed a surging crowd of irate supporters who tried to force their way into the station. “No visitors are allowed to access the cells or even meet them,” a senior officer said.
The eight were charged with incitement to violence and investigating officers successfully applied to have them detained for four days pending completion of investigations.
According to police sources, investigators have adduced enough evidential threshold to sustain prosecution and possible conviction, which could set a landmark precedent of potential jail terms for high profile personalities to be convicted over hate mongering.
Violent demos
The arrests come against the backdrop of the countrywide violent demonstrations by Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) supporters demanding disbandment of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Meanwhile, normalcy was restored in Kibera following heightened tension.
“Life is normal in Kibera though people are raising false alarms, which is not good. There is no police deployment apart from the normal police patrols,” Nairobi County Police Commander Jahpeth Koome said.
There were false claims of ethnic harassment through social media.
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