The National Police Service (NPS) now says that the discharge of a teargas canister during Martha Wangari Karua’s rally in Kisii county was a criminal act.
In a statement dated Thursday, June 30, NPS spokesman, Bruno Shioso, stated that the circumstances under which the teargas was discharged still remain unclear even as detectives move in to investigate the matter.
“The National Police Service is in receipt of an incident report from police in Kisii where a teargas canister was discharged during a public meeting graced by Martha Karua who is the Azimio presidential running mate and attended by many leaders and the general public,” stated NPS in a statement.
Azimio running mate Martha Karua addressing supporters during a rally in Laikipia County on Wednesday, June 22, 2022.
Martha Karua
“The circumstances surrounding the incident are currently under investigation.”
Shioso further assured the public that police would take decisive action against anyone found culpable.
NPS also announced that they have arrested a police officer as one of the suspects in connection to the incident.
“Subsequent to our earlier statement on the above incident, NPS wishes to inform the public that preliminary investigation into the discharge of the teargas at the public meeting presided over by Hon Martha Karua who is the Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya Alliance presidential running mate, has established that the person responsible for the incident is a police officer,” the NPS stated.
“The said officer is currently in custody assisting with further investigation to unravel all circumstances surrounding the incident.”
Notably, the Narc Kenya party leader, through a post on her social media, announced that she would still complete her “eventful” tour of Kisii county.
The chaos witnessed comes just a day after Kiambu gubernatorial aspirant, Mwende Gatabaki, challenged Inspector General of Police, Hillary Mutyambai, to step up security for all female contestants in the August 9 polls.
Police officers during a parade in December 2019.
National police Service Twitter
While addressing concerns raised by UDA over chaos witnessed in political campaigns, IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati disclosed that his hands were tied and he could not do anything about it.
He explained that investigating and dealing with incidences of violence was the mandate of the IEBC Code of Conduct Enforcement Committee which had been declared unconstitutional.
Discussion about this post