Ward reps now make demands for bodyguards
What you need to know:
- We are no longer safe even in our own homes, the leaders claim as some allege they received threats
County assembly members in two regions have demanded that they be provided with bodyguards.
The Homa Bay and Kilifi leaders fear for their lives following the brutal murder of Kibiri Ward representative Boaz Odhiambo Ondiek.
“We need to be either assigned bodyguards or be licensed to keep guns,” said Mr Lennox Ochieng of Kosewe ward.
Kagan Ward leader Patrick Odwalo said some of them have been forced to stay away from their homes.
Fear of attack
“Some of us do not sleep in our houses for fear of attack,” he said.
The CMAs were addressing mourners in Ndhiwa on Sunday evening during the burial of Homa Bay deputy Governor Hamilton Orata’s uncle.
Mr Odwalo claimed that he and ward leaders Lawrence Mula (Kanyadoto) and Isaac Ouso Nyandege (Kanyada West) had been threatened.
Nominated ward representative Jared Kajomo urged police officers to direct their energy in fighting crime instead of harassing boda boda riders.
Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awiti said he would assist the police to fight insecurity.
“I am ready to assist local police with fuel if that is a problem so that they can track down criminals,” he said and urged the people to report criminals living among them.
In Kilifi, Bamba Ward representative Daniel Mangi supported the call to provide the leaders with armed bodyguards.
Mr Mangi said the CMAs had become easy targets for criminals, citing the killing of the Kibiri Ward representative.
“Had he had armed guards at his home, he could not have been killed. We are no longer safe,” he said at Bamba market at the weekend when he opened an office for a boda boda sacco.
