County chief blames raids on Raila

A claim by Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa that the Orange Democratic Party was behind the killings in Likoni sparked an angry reaction from the Opposition on Friday.
Three people, including an 11-year-old child, were killed in the Sunday attack on the low income Soweto village in Likoni.

In a quick response, ODM secretary general Anyang’ Nyong’o dismissed the allegation, saying it was aimed at diverting attention from the government’s failure to tackle insecurity.

Mr Marwa, who chairs the Mombasa County Security Committee, said at a news conference that his team had evidence that the Likoni attack was executed by youths from the Raila Odinga-led ODM party.

He also linked the murder of a German tourist on Thursday evening to politics, insisting that it had nothing to do with criminals but a plot to sabotage the government. The young woman was shot dead in Mombasa’s Old Town. Her Ugandan boyfriend sustained bullet wounds and was admitted to Coast General Hospital.

The Likoni raid, Mr Marwa claimed, was meant to divide communities in the county since it targeted one community and those behind it claimed in leaflets they dropped that they were avenging the deaths of those killed in Mpeketoni four weeks ago.

Crucial evidence

“It was a potential propaganda, heavily loaded and capable of triggering a massive tribal conflict. There were youths involved in the killings ... they came from ODM party,’’ Mr Marwa said without naming names.

“We have crucial evidence to prove it and whoever wants to challenge us should come forward,” he added as he cautioned youths being used to cause chaos.
Prof Nyong’o dismissed the allegations, saying they fell within the pattern that the government had engaged to divert attention from dealing with insecurity.

ODM legislatorss Omar Mwinyi (Changamwe), Hezron Awiti (Nyali) and Senator Hassan Omar accused the government of politicising security issues.

The leaders met Mombasa county government officials, including Speaker Thadius Rajwai, to discuss the problem. They said Mr Marwa’s claim was part of a calculated plan to persecute “part of the Opposition leadership.’’

“The allegations are also a veiled attempt aimed at silencing opposition and diverting their legitimate obligation to demand that the government deals with insecurity,” they said in a statement after the meeting.

Prof Nyong’o said associating ODM with terrorism was nothing new.

“It falls within the pattern of innuendos, slander and disinformation about Cord that Jubilee has engaged in consistently,” he said in a statement.
Kenyans would not be fooled by the sentiments of Mr Marwa, the Kisumu Senator added.

Mr Marwa, who spoke in his Uhuru na Kazi office in the company of some religious leaders, said the security committee was giving a warning to ODM against “inciting Kenyans”.
He said the party was using land issues to cause insecurity in their bid to get signatures for their proposed referendum.

When challenged to name the individuals behind the attacks, Mr Marwa said the security team “was building up evidence first’’ and that arrests would follow in “two to three days”.
He claimed some of the youths arrested during a raid on Masjid Musa Mosque and released were seen wearing ODM badges at a recent opposition rally in Mombasa.

He said that a special security team had arrived in Mombasa and would analyse the issues thoroughly and asked: “Why is someone being killed and nothing stolen from them, even the most expensive valuable? What is the motive? These are heavy loaded issues that you cannot ignore.”

County Police Commander Robert Kitur said a suspect found in possession of grenades, military uniforms and an AK-47 riffle with more than 100 bullets had been trained in Somalia.

The police boss said they had information regarding the Kibokoni and Sega killings and had launched a manhunt for those behind them.

The government, he added, will not allow foreigners visiting Kenya to be killed warning that ‘time has come to deal with them’.