Impunity: Raila takes on Ruto over demolished Sh70m couple's house
Mr Odinga cited a last week incident where he claimed criminal gangs acting as auctioneers raided and demolished a family’s home in Nairobi’s Westlands Estate, terming it an act of impunity. Reports have valued the house at Sh70 million.
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga has accused the government of abetting lawlessness and impunity.
Mr Odinga cited a last week incident where he claimed criminal gangs acting as auctioneers raided and demolished a family’s home in Nairobi’s Westlands Estate, terming it an act of impunity. Reports have valued the house at Sh70 million.
He also cautioned that the move by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji to drop cases against government officials as well as widespread incidences of daylight crimes and profiling of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) would only take the country to the dark old days.
In a statement Thursday, the former Prime Minister said the country may be witnessing a quick return of the old practice where individuals with political patronage used their proximity to power to harass innocent citizens and foreigners and take their property.
“A general sense of lawlessness is taking shape. Our security appears to have deteriorated overnight, with widespread incidents of daylight crimes, making families lose their loved ones to thugs in broad daylight particularly in Nairobi,” said Mr Odinga.
He was referring to a last Friday incident where individuals contracted by an auctioneer descended on Mr Niraj Shah’s home, demolishing it and evicting his family from their land in Nairobi.
Mr Shah, a Kenyan of British origin, and his wife, Avani, were caught unawares by the group which consisted of hired goons and police officers.
“Lawlessness and impunity seem to be finding their way back into our national life, targeting not just individuals but also property in a manner witnessed in a previous era that Kenyans had hoped was gone forever,” the Azimio leader said.
He lamented that the developments come at a time the government is “profiling the DCI and dividing the National Police Service into good and bad officers.”
At least nine police officers from the disbanded Special Services Unit (SSU) have been arrested over claims of involvement in the abduction and disappearance of two Indian nationals and their taxi driver Mr Nicodemus Mwanzia.
The duo, Mr Mohammed Said Sami and Zulfiqar Ahmed were said to have been involved in Dr Ruto’s presidential campaign.
Mr Odinga insisted that the Westlands incident, taken together with recent developments in which the DPP dropped cases against government officials including Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and the “willingness of the Judiciary to dance to the tunes of the Executive, point to the fact that as a country, we are flirting with lawlessness.”
“This is the easiest way to lose a country to criminals,” he said.
The anti-corruption court on Thursday allowed an application to withdraw charges against Mr Gachagua in his Sh 7.4 billion fraud case.
Mr Odinga said that the current trend if not checked will make criminals bolder and begin terrorizing communities and even security officers.
“While public outcry seems to have forced the government to take up the matter of the so-called auctioneers in the Westlands saga, there is need for actions that will affirm that political patronage shall not be a substitute for the rule of law in Kenya,” he said.
He demanded that the gang that descended on the Westlands home must be made to pay by reconstructing the house and compensating the owner for the damages and the inconvenience.
“In the meantime, the country deserves a firm commitment by the government that the era in which people with political patronage terrorized innocent Kenyans and foreigners in our midst is gone and shall never return,” said the ODM leader.
