Police officers drawn from the General Service Unit (GSU) are planning to raid Kisii Governor Simba Arati’s residence. This is according to ODM’s Secretary General, Edwin Sifuna.
This is after the officers planned a raid in the governors office earlier in the day. On asking why the police were blocking the governor from accessing his office, he did not get a definite answer.
However, Kisii County Police Commander Charles Kases denied the raid arguing that the stadium was a public place. Therefore it was not unusual for officers to patrol the town, saying they had a right to be anywhere.
In a statement released by ODM and signed by Edwin Sifuna, there is credible evidence that the police were now planning to raid his residence.
“There is no search warrant issued by the courts. We find this to be the highest level of intimidation and coercion. Such raids should be carried out during the daytime.”
“The Governor is available to provide any information they may be looking for. Harassment and trying to force Governors into submission is one way of killing the hard-fought Democratic space that we all enjoy.”
Wycliffe Oparanya has rubbished the report by the police claiming they were doing a regular patrol.
“Azimio la Umoja takes a very dim view of the incident in which a large number of GSU officers laid siege to the offices of H.E. Simba Arati earlier today.”
“The Kisii incident is a continuation of a growing pattern of the Kenya Kwanza administration. This is by misusing national government institutions like investigative agencies and security apparatus. This is to intimidate and blackmail governors.”
The Azimio coalition has condemned this trend of intimidation towards governors in the Nyanza region. In a statement, Azimio said it was unwarranted and is an act of abuse of power.
“Azimio strongly condemns this act of abuse of power and office by national government officers and warns them to cease and desist.”