Bobasi MP Innocent Obiri, aide arrested over incitement

What you need to know:

  • Mr Obiri was seized outside Hilton Hotel in Nairobi on Saturday afternoon while his aide was picked from a hideout in Kitengela.

  • MP set to face charges of incitement, disturbance and malicious destruction of property when he is brought to court on Monday.
  • The PDP party MP had Wednesday stormed into a private quarry in Masongo, Nyamonema Bobasi and roughed up staff.

Bobasi MP Innocent Obiri and his aide will be arraigned in Kisii on Monday after their arrest over incitement charges.

Mr Obiri was seized outside Hilton Hotel in Nairobi on Saturday afternoon while his aide was picked from a hideout in Kitengela, Machakos County after days on the run.

The aide spent the night at the Kisii Central Police cells where he had been transferred from Kitengela while Mr Obiri was booked at the Central Police Station in Nairobi, but was expected back in Kisii later on Sunday evening.

Kisii County Police Commander Abdi Hassan said Mr Obiri will face charges of incitement, disturbance and malicious destruction of property when he is brought to court on Monday.

“We have finalised with investigations and he will be in court to answer to those charges,” he told Nation by phone.

The PDP MP is allegedly claimed to have stormed into a private quarry in Masongo, Nyamonema Bobasi and roughed up staff after he went to protest over blasting at the quarry, that he said was causing cracks on nearby buildings.

Mr Hassan said the aide allegedly assaulted the quarry site manager.

SCUFFLE

A pickup truck used to ferry workers to and from work was also set ablaze by knife-wielding goons who raided the site hours after the MP had left the quarry on May 6 this year.

Four occupants, three quarry workers and the owner of the vehicle, survived the Sunday night incident by jumping out of the pickup, falling in a nearby thicket.

"We strongly suspect it is the same politician who has incited goons to burn the vehicle," Mr David Mogambi, the site manager told Nation.

Mr Mogambi said the attack occurred on Sunday at 9pm as they left work for Kisii town.

Work had been going at the site for more than two years and there had been no complaints from the residents, added Mr Mogambi.

Site engineer David Nyamweya also dismissed claims that blasts from the quarry were causing cracks on nearby buildings.

"We have had nobody coming to us with any of these complaints being bandied around," said Mr Nyamweya.

The quarry deals in chippings, concrete and ballast for road constructions.

But on May 7, Mr Obiri told journalists in Kisii town that he was on Sunday afternoon denied access to the site after receiving complaints from some area residents.

He also said he was roughed up by guards manning the gate to the site.

But in rejoinder, staff at the quarry denied the MP was denied access.

They instead accused him of seeking cheap political mileage out of the project.

"He came here unannounced and unleashed goons on us. One of our staff in fact lost his glasses in the process when his security officer engaged him in a scuffle," said Nyamweya.

The Kisii police commander said police have finalised investigations and believe the MP has a case to answer.

Security outside the Kisii police station remained tight on Sunday following the information that the MP had spent the night at the cells.