Nairobi, Kenya, Feb 16 – Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance party leader Raila Odinga has condemned the state over the police raid at the residence of the former Interior cabinet secretary Fred Matiangi on Wednesday.
Speaking in Karen moments after the raid on Matiangi’s home, Odinga noted that the former CS was being treated as a wanted criminal despite the fact that he formerly held the powerful interior ministry docket.
Raila stated that the action amounted to persecution and lamented the fact that Matiang’i was being treated like a criminal without good reason.
“I don’t think that Matiang’i should be treated as a criminal. They said they were investigating the Ruaraka land saga but they have not reached a point where Matiang’i needs to record a statement,” said Odinga.
In addition, Odinga questioned why Matiangi’s home was under police guard when DPP Noordin Haji had previously declared that the Ruaraka land dispute probe was not yet complete.
On February 9, Haji said he was awaiting for an essential part of the investigation to be resolved before deciding whether or not to charge Matiang’i in connection with the aforementioned land problem.
“What is the urgency over this issue? Why should somebody who has been in charge of internal security just six months ago be seen as a very big criminal who should be prosecuted?” said Odinga.
The former prime minister added that Kenya Kwanza administration is conducting a witch hunt against lawmakers who support Azimio in an effort to stifle the opposition.
“Today police officers went with these people and invaded the headquarters of Jubilee party and took over the offices there. They are trying to destroy Jubilee so that Jubilee can be consumed by Kenya Kwanza,” said Odinga.
“This is an intention of taking this country back to a single-party dictatorship. They want to undermine the opposition and kill it so that they create one monolith. This is where we are going to and this country is in serious danger of going back to single-party dictatorship.”
Odinga urged the former CS to remain strong despite the alleged witch-hunt against him while pointing out that police lacked a court warrant allowing them to raid Matiang’i’s home.
“I have not talked to Matiang’i but I will try to reach him after this. I want him to stand strong; we have seen this before. Ultimately the will of the people of Kenya will prevail,” he said.
“We are going through uncharted waters but Kenyans must stand firm against intimidation and blackmail by those who are in power.”
A contingent of officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) raided the home of former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi’s to obtain CCTV footage after obtaining a search warrant.
The detectives who were accompanied by uniformed police officers were forced to break the main gate, after watchmen at the gate denied them entry.
They then proceeded to search the house in search of the CCTV footage in an ongoing investigation to confirm the veracity of Matiangi’s claim that police had raided the home last week.
The search at Matiangi’s office came even as DCI chief Mohammed Amin said it had recorded statements from police officers attached to the former Cabinet Secretary.
“Upon completing our investigation, we will take action if any officers from any security agency were involved in any unauthorized activities, or if any false information was knowingly disseminated by anyone to the public,” he said in a statement.
