ODM legislators claim Lempurkel has been abducted and whereabouts unknown

Over 10 ODM lawmakers on Wednesday called for the release Laikipia North MP Mathew Lempurkel, who they claimed had been abducted and his whereabouts unknown.

ODM chairman John Mbadi claimed the law was being applied selectively, since nominated MP Sara Korere, with whom Mr Lempurkel is said to have exchanged blows in a boardroom at Harambee House, had not been arrested.

The lawmakers said if he was not released by Wednesday evening, they would take unspecified action”. They said the police were being used to settle political scores.

Mr Lempurkel was arrested on Tuesday and spent the night at Kileleshwa police station cells. He appeared in court on Wednesday, was granted bail but he was re-arrested and driven to an unknown location according to his ODM colleagues.

His lawyer, Saitabao Kanchori, said the MP was taken to Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters to record further statements over reasons that had not been disclosed.

Mr Kanchori was among dozens of supporters from Mr Lempurkel’s Laikipia North Constituency, who camped outside Parliament Police Station, where the lawmaker was seized on Monday.

SENDING ABUSIVE TEXT MESSAGE

It was not clear whether Mr Lempurkel had been rearrested for allegedly sending an abusive text to Ms Korere, telling her she would be dead if she did not withdraw the case against him, among other insults.

However, Suna East MP Junet Mohamed said the message was not from the Laikipia North lawmaker, who is reportedly facing stiff competition from Ms Korere for the seat.

The incident, which started as an altercation at the office of Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery’s office on Monday before degenerating into a fist fight, appeared to be taking a political dimension, as jubilee MPs sided with Ms Korere and ODM, with Mr Lempurkel.

The ODM lawmakers alleged political “persecution” as the claimed police had targeted one of the aggressors and left out the other, even though there was evidence that both of them had engaged in the fighting.

Both MPs are said to have recorded statements claiming they were attacked by the other, and even sought treatment at different hospitals, leaving it to witnesses and CCTV footage to establish who started the fight.

Mr Mbadi on Wednesday claimed a “senior government official” was behind the “humiliation and suffering “ of Mr Lempurkel, claiming the said official was related to the nominated MP and was using the incident to settle personal scores, instead of allowing the law to take its course.