Businessman Mukhtar Ahmed protests eviction by police in full-page advertisement

A Nairobi-based businessman has taken out a full-page advertisement to protest against the police for alleged illegal eviction.

In the advertisement in Wednesday’s Nation, Mr Mukhtar Ahmed claims the Administration Police (AP) have raided his shop on Luthuli Avenue three times since Saturday.

The advertisement is addressed to President Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Ahmed is seeking the President's intervention in the matter.

Mr Ahmed claims that the APs, accompanied by 30 men, raided his shop and took electronic goods worth Sh20 million last Saturday.

“They produced a court order that was not genuine and which was definitely defective, since it had been sealed three months before the application date,” he said.

The businessman says the police returned on Sunday and removed all doors in the shop. They returned on Monday and evicted him from the premises.

“During this process my lawyer arrived with a court order restraining anyone from interfering with my occupancy of the said premises,” he said.

NO HELP FROM POLICE

The APs, however, evicted him from the premises though he had shown them the court order, he alleged.

Mr Ahmed lists the names of senior police officers he had tried to contact over the eviction, saying they did not offer any assistance.

Speaking to Nation.co.ke by phone, Mr Ahmed said he resorted to paying about Sh500,000 for the advertisement as he was not getting any assistance from the police.

“What has happened to me in the last four days should not be happening in Kenya. The rule of law must be respected by everyone including the police,” he said.

He said the APs should have scrutinised the alleged eviction order they used to evict him before acting and also should have respected the injunction he obtained stopping the move.

National Police Service spokesman George Kinoti on Wednesday said police had launched investigations into the businessman’s complaints.