ODM criticises Marwa remarks linking party to Likoni attacks
What you need to know:
- In a statement sent to newsrooms Prof Nyong’o said Mr Marwa’s “outbursts” associating the party with terrorism were “nothing new”.
Speaking earlier Friday during the county security committee meeting, Mr Marwa had blamed ODM for the recent killings in Likoni
A claim by Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa that the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) was behind last Sunday’s killings in Likoni has sparked an angry reaction.
The county’s security committee on Friday blamed the Opposition party for the recent spate of attacks.
Mombasa residents, though, are still awaiting the arrest of members of the gang that attacked the low-income residential area of Soweto, shooting to death three people, including an 11-year old girl.
In a swift response, ODM secretary general Anyang' Nyong'o said the claim associating the party with the attacks was part of the Jubilee government’s ploy to cover for its incompetence on insecurity.
During a news conference earlier on Friday, Mr Marwa, who chairs the Mombasa county security committee, said his team had incriminating evidence regarding the attacks.
He said the evidence backed intelligence reports that the Likoni attack involved youths from the Raila Odinga-led ODM party.
TOURIST KILLING LINKED TO POLITICS
He also linked the killing of a German tourist on Thursday evening to politics, insisting 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 while her Ugandan boyfriend escaped with bullet wounds and was admitted to Coast General Hospital.
Mr Marwa said the Likoni attack was planned. He said it was meant to divide communities living in the county since it targeted one community.
He said those behind the attack claimed, through the leaflets dropped in the area, that they were avenging the deaths of those killed in Mpeketoni about four weeks ago.
“It was a potential propaganda which was heavily loaded and capable of triggering a massive tribal conflict. There were youths involved in the killings and they came from ODM party,’’ he said without naming names.
“We have crucial evidence to prove it and whoever wants to challenge us should come forward,” he added, while “cautioning youths who are being used in the county to cause chaos.’’
DIVERTING ATTENTION
However, Prof Nyong’o dismissed the allegations, saying they fell within the pattern that the government had engaged in to divert attention in dealing with insecurity.
Associating ODM with terrorism was nothing new, added the Kisumu senator.
“It falls within the pattern of innuendos, slander and disinformation about Cord that Jubilee has engaged in consistently,” said Prof Nyong’o in a statement.
Kenyans would not be fooled by the sentiments of Mr Marwa, the ODM statement added.
Speaking from his Uhuru na Kazi office in the company of a group of religious leaders — among them Julius Kalu, the head of the Anglican Church of Kenya in Mombasa and Muslim leader Sheikh Juma Ngao — Mr Marwa said the security committee was giving a warning to ODM against “inciting Kenyans.”
USING LAND ISSUES
He said they were allegedly using land issues and youth to cause insecurity to get signatures for their proposed referendum “so that government becomes unpopular and they (opposition) gain support.”
But when challenged to name the individuals behind the attacks, the controversial administrator said the security team “was building up evidence first’’ and would take action.
He said the security team was “alert” and would make arrests in “two to three days.”
The team “has a dossier on the killings and soon they will arrest the people behind it," he said.
He also accused the party of fuelling a propaganda war through alleged circulation of leaflets, including the recent ones warning of attacks in specific Mosques.
WEARING ODM BADGES
He claimed some of the youths who were arrested during a raid on Masjid Musa Mosque and released were seen wearing ODM badges at a recent opposition rally in Mombasa.
He said the majority of the youths who had been freed were being used by some individuals in ODM to destabilise the government system.
“Who has those youths? In whose hands are those mercenaries? Some of them are potential criminals… Who is using them?” he posed, while declaring he was not afraid of speaking the truth.
He indicated that a special security team had arrived in Mombasa with the capacity of analysing the issues thoroughly while adding: “Why is someone being killed and nothing stolen from them, even the most expensive valuables? What is the motive?
“Are they criminals or people who have been planned? These are heavy, loaded issues that you cannot ignore,” he said.
