Morara Kebaso arrested, again, as Kanu staff Cornelius Ronoh is freed
Lawyer Morara Kebaso at the Milimani Law Court on October 1, 2024.
What you need to know:
- Just an hour before his arrest, the outspoken activist had condemned the abduction of Cornelius Ronoh.
- Last Friday, Morara was brutally attacked at the Bomas of Kenya during a public participation exercise.
Political activist Morara Kebaso has been arrested, again, barely days after the courts cleared him of charges that saw him arrested less than a fortnight ago.
Confirming his arrest on Tuesday morning, Mr Morara said he has been arrested in Nairobi over the chaos that rocked the Bomas of Kenya last Friday where Kenyans had gathered to give their views on the proposed impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Reports indicate the activist was picked up by detectives in Subarus and taken to Lang’ata Police Station for questioning.
“I have been arrested over what happened at Bomas. Can you imagine? Can you imagine. Does it even make sense jamani (seriously?). What is this now? Ah,” he posted on his X account.
Just an hour before his arrest, the outspoken activist had condemned the abduction of Cornelius Ronoh, Kanu party’s digital communication officer, on Monday evening at Fedha in Embakasi.
“The freedom of speech that we enjoy is not a gift from the government, it is a right. The gang-land style abduction of Cornelius Ronoh shows how much the government hates the truth. But let me assure them one thing, tutaongea ukweli (we’ll speak the truth) without fear. Kenya is home. You will not be in government forever,” he posted.
The Tuesday arrest comes four days after Morara was brutally attacked moments after he arrived at the Bomas of Kenya to give his submissions, and was still visibly unwell when his family gave a press briefing on their concerns for his safety last Sunday evening.
It was during this session that his family’s spokesperson Tom Moindi condemned the attack and urged the government to give the activist police security.
“Morara’s life is in danger. The government must bring to account everyone who participated in the attack that risked his life at the Bomas of Kenya. He was seriously injured and has been receiving treatment since the attack,” Mr Moindi said.
Mr Morara’s arrest came as Mr Ronoh’s abductors freed him in Kiambu County after holding him the whole night in a “private house”.
In an interview with the Nation, the communications officer said he was abandoned on Kiambu Road near Ridgeways Shopping Mall on Tuesday morning.
He said his abductors, whom he suspects were police officers, questioned him on the ongoing impeachment of Mr Gachagua and his tweets on the subject.
In the tweets, under the hashtag #KufaDerevaKufaMakanga Mr Rono had called for the removal of both Mr Gachagua and his boss, President William Ruto.
“Reminder. William Ruto is a one-term President,” one of his posts reads.
Earlier, Kanu had condemned his abduction and demanded that police either release him or arraign him in case he had committed an offence.
Mr Ronoh, who doubles as an active digital political commentator, becomes the latest victim of outright abductions of people civically engaged about the failure of the country’s public policy decisions.
“The proliferation of gangland-style kidnappings of young people articulating public policy issues affecting them through digital spaces herald a grim future for the rule of law in this country. This desperate attempt to instill fear in the public and silence dissent is unwarranted, uncalled for, and has no place in our nation,” said Kanu Director of Communications Manasse Nyainda.
The party said that it has dispatched its lawyers to report and pursue the matter at the nearest police station in Embakasi East.
The case of Mr Ronoh comes amidst backlash from DP Gachagua over increasing cases of abductions and extra judicial killings of Kenyans, which he confirmed in his address to the nation.
Mr Gachagua claimed that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) was responsible for the abductions, which escalated during the recent anti-government demonstrations.
“Despite the police keeping on misleading the president to say that there are no abductions, you all know, you have evidence on video, that they have happened. That is what has happened and I have commended because I am a truthful person,” Mr Gachagua said.
“I will say what is wrong when it happens despite the fact that I’m compelled by the principle of public responsibility to be part and parcel of every decision made by the government…but only decisions that are constitutional and within the rule of law. Abductions and extra-judicial killings are unconstitutional. I will never support that.”
According to Mr Gachagua, the police were abducting Kenyans across the country for allegedly expressing their divergent views, something he said was “unconstitutional” and would not support.
Last month, Della Ward MCA Yusuf Hussein Abdi, who is the Wajir County Assembly Minority Leader was reportedly abducted by armed people while in a taxi along Enterprise Road, Nairobi.
The MCA is still missing despite efforts from the family members and relatives asking the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja to reunite the missing MCA with his people.
