Police teargas MPs as Kuria spends night in jail despite court order

What you need to know:

  • A woman named Joyce Wanja says legislator beat her up at Royal Media Services studios in early December.
  •   Ms Wanja said she wants help from Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti and Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji.
  • Ms Wanja appealed for help from the government, saying she could not afford a lawyer.

Police on Friday evening used teargas to disperse MPs who were addressing the media at Kilimani Police Station, where Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria is being detained following an assault claim against him.

This after police were accused of ignoring a court order to release the MP arrested in connection with an alleged assault on a woman early last month.

Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen told the Nation that they had obtained the court order late Friday evening after Mr Kuria spent the better part of the day locked up at the Kilimani Police Station in Nairobi.

Nation reporter Wanjohi Githae was arrested and later released while covering the confrontation.

A copy of the order seen by the Nation and issued by Senior Principal Magistrate K. Cheruiyot stated that Mr Kuria had been released on Sh50,000 cash bail pending his arraignment Monday. 

The MP had been arrested earlier in the day and locked up at the police station over an alleged assault on a woman at the Royal Media Services (RMS) studios on December 8 last year.  

Scores of politicians allied to Deputy President William Ruto thronged the police station and spent most of the day seeking his release. 

The politicians, led by Mr Murkomen, read politics in Mr Kuria’s latest tribulations, saying he was being targeted because of his support for the DP.

Speaking at the police station, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro said: “We are now back to the dark days of (Daniel arap) Moi. Police have ignored court orders apparently waiting for orders from above. Now, they are lobbing tear gas at night on unarmed, peaceful MPs and members of public.”

“I warned at (Charles) Rubia’s funeral that the dark days are here. We are now under a police state (sic),” said Kandara MP Alice Wahome.

Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung'wa — who said he was talking on behalf of Mr Kuria — said the arrest was orchestrated by “elements in the Office of the President”, adding that they will not be intimidated by the arrest.

“The arrest was made to stall and prevent the launch of the BBI sensitisation programme in Mt Kenya region because there are elements that do not want views other than what was being propagated in Kisii on Friday and later in Kakamega next week.”

Mr Ichung'wa said that the arrest comes at a suspicious time when Mr Kuria was about to launch a comprehensive programme to sensitise people in the Mt Kenya region and diaspora on the BBI process. “Many Kenyans agree with the BBI report as it is and many of us see no point of the partisan political activities we are seeing being launched in Kisii. This is precisely what elements in the Office of the President, who are now directing the police here, do not want,” he added. 

The alleged victim, Ms Joyce Wanja, in her police statement recorded on December 10, claimed that Mr Kuria beat her up during a show at the station in which they discussed the BBI report. 

It was not immediately clear why police had taken a month after Ms Wanja reported the alleged assault to arrest Mr Kuria, who has become one of the most rabid critics of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga. 

Speaking at the station, Mr Ichung'wa questioned why police had not acted on a statement Mr Kuria recorded with them on December 12 regarding the alleged assault and instead proceeding to detain him with no option of bail.

“I sympathise with the police who are under instructions from the two prefects at the Office of the President,” he said.

“We choose to stand for the truth, we stand with Moses Kuria and we will not be intimidated by anyone, including the two prefects,” he insisted. 

“We have not been given any indication of a court appearance or why they are holding him here. There have been whispers in the cell that they intend to move Mr Kuria in the wee hours of the night,” Mr Ichung'wa added.