Senator Cleophas Malala is lying about DCI, Kinoti now says

Kakamega Senator Cleopha Malala's troubles heightened after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) dismissed claims that there is plot to assassinate him.

DCI boss George Kinoti described the claims made by the senator on the floor of the House as false and ill-intended. He said they were meant to cast the special service unit of the DCI in bad light and demanded that the lawmaker apologise for the remarks.

“Failure to offer the apology in the same prominent manner that he made them should lead to his arrest and arraignment for giving the police false information,” Mr Kinoti told a joint committee of the Senate on Wednesday morning.

This comes about a week after Mr Malala sensationally wept before his colleagues in Parliament while alleging that a squad from the special service unit (SSU) of the DCI had been formed to assassinate him over his stand on the controversial revenue sharing formula. 

He claimed the squad code named “Bravo Zulu Yankee” was assembled from the SSU.

The senator claimed the “five members of the squad of assassin policemen” had held several meetings at DCI headquarters' executive lounge and on at least two occasions at Hotel La Mada off Thika Road.

Mr Malala further claimed that they held meetings at Eton Hotel in Thika town where the said group was allegedly briefed by a Mr Wanzala from the DCI's homicide department. 

'Demoralised'

But when he appeared before the joint committee of National Security and Justice and legal Affairs, Mr Kinoti said at least four of the individuals the senator had mentioned as members of the squad are not police officers because they are not in the police database.

He told the committee that the allegations had demoralised the unit.

“In the absence of the apology, they feel despised and demoralised which will affect their morale,” he said.

He told the committee that the identity of four of the five members of the squad could not be confirmed during investigations and that the police could not locate Eton Hotel in Thika town.

However, there's an Eton Hotel located along Kenyatta Highway in Thika town.

Mr Kinoti said a chief inspector Wanzala does not exist within the service and that only one individual - David Ingutia Kutekha - who was mentioned as part of the squad, is a serving police officer.

“Kutekha is deployed at Thika Police Station and has never served in the DCI. He hails from Kakamega County like the senator and he feels distressed with the allegations because it has subjected him to public ridicule,” the DCI boss told parliamentarians.