Kalonzo cries foul as more bodyguards are withdrawn
Nasa co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka addresses mourners on October 8, 2017 during the burial of five victims of a car crash last week at Kyamalutu Primary School. Mr Musyoka also decried move by government to further reduce his security detail. PHOTO | DENNIS KAVISU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
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He accused the government of compromising the safety of Nasa leaders, saying there is no justification for the withdrawal in the middle of charged election campaigns.
The former Vice-President said the two police officers were ordered to vacate his security detail on Saturday morning, a week after six others were recalled.
He accused the government of violating the Constitution and election laws, saying other than him and Mr Odinga being candidates for the presidency they were entitled to elaborate security.
Nasa co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka on Sunday protested the unilateral withdrawal of opposition leaders’ security as two more of his police guards were recalled.
Mr Musyoka, presidential candidate Raila Odinga’s running mate, alleged a sinister motive behind the decision, the main one being exposing the leaders to danger.
He accused the government of compromising the safety of Nasa leaders, saying there is no justification for the withdrawal in the middle of charged election campaigns.
“What are they up to when they withdraw the security of presidential candidates? It’s like allowing Mungiki (thugs) to come and fix any one of us,” Mr Musyoka said at Kyamalutu Primary School, Kitui County, in his Tseikuru backyard at the burial of five victims of last week’s road accident.
VACATE
The former Vice-President said the two police officers were ordered to vacate his security detail on Saturday morning, a week after six others were recalled.
This brings to eight the security officers, both mobile and from his residence, so far withdrawn.
The Wiper Democratic Movement party leader warned that should anything happen to him or Mr Odinga, the government would bear full responsibility as it had acted maliciously to expose them to obvious danger.
“In any election, the security of presidential candidates is paramount, and even the Constitution stipulates in Article 138 that the elections can be stopped if any of the presidential candidates or running mates dies,” he said.
MISCHEVEOUS AGENDA
Mr Musyoka said that was proof that the Jubilee government was on a mischievous agenda and that any physical harm on him or Mr Odinga arising from the security exposure will derail the repeat poll scheduled for October 26.
He accused the government of violating the Constitution and election laws, saying other than him and Mr Odinga being candidates for the presidency they were entitled to elaborate security by virtue of having served as VP and Prime Minister, respectively.
“Why expose the Nasa candidates if you mean well for the leaders affected and the country?” he wondered.
On September 28, acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said the government would not go back on its decision to cut down on police officers attached to the two leaders.
DISMISSED INVESTIGATION
Mr Musyoka dismissed the investigation into him and Mr Odinga ordered by Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko over their remarks that there will be no election until the electoral agency was reformed as misguided.
On October 2, Mr Tobiko instructed the Director of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro to conduct the investigation within 21 days.
Mr Musyoka, who was accompanied by Governors Charity Ngilu (Kitui) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) and Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua, said the purported petition was a smokescreen by the government to intimidate them.
“I want to refer the petitioner, one Kinyanjui, to Article 138 of the Constitution: When you withdraw the security of the presidential candidates, it is like allowing thugs to go and ‘fix’ them,” said Mr Musyoka.
He said the changes announced by IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati were to hoodwink Kenyans as “none of our demands have been addressed.”
The governors said the Kamba were behind Mr Musyoka and will deliver 100 per cent of the vote to Nasa.
