Joho furious after his five bodyguards are withdrawn

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho on Thursday morning stormed the office of Coast regional police boss Francis Wanjohi, demanding to know why his five bodyguards had been withdrawn.

Mr Joho, who was accompanied by his political advisor, Major (Rtd) Idris Abdulrahman, stormed Mr Wanjohi’s office, forcing him to cut short a meeting that was going on when the governor arrived.

Mr Joho said acting Mombasa Urban OCPD Patrick Njoroge on Thursday morning went to his office and asked the bodyguards to return to their respective stations.

“Your officer came and said he has received orders from the county commander that my officers should be withdrawn.

“If you wanted to withdraw them, why did you not do it officially the way you did when you were giving [them] to me.

“Hii siasa ya vitisho mtaacha. Sisi sote ni Wakenya na kulikuwa na serikali kabla yenu.

“Even if you take all of them, God is there and he is the one who is protecting all of us,” said an angry Mr Joho.

Mr Wanjohi denied that he had given the order, adding that he was not the county commander and that his deputy was the one in charge of the county.

The governor demanded that Coast Deputy Regional Commander Akello Odhiambo be called and asked why he had given the order “without any formal communication”.

When Mr Odhiambo appeared in Mr Wanjohi’s office where the two were, he said, “I am not the county commander, I am the deputy regional commander.

Mr Wanjohi then told the governor that the officers, among them a General Service Unit officer, were supposed to report back to their stations.

“For now, you can consider it official that the officers have been withdrawn. There are some policies which are coming up and the officers are needed back to their stations,” said Mr Wanjohi.