Kalonzo leads condemnation over teargassing of Ex-CJ Willy Mutunga
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Kalonzo calls out the state over over teargassing of Ex-CJ Willy Mutunga terming the incident a new low by Ruto govt
Kalonzo calls out the state over over teargassing of Ex-CJ Willy Mutunga terming the incident a new low by Ruto govt.
Wiper leader and Azimio co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka has condemned police for hurling teargas at former Chief Justice Willie Mutunga at the Central Police Station.
Mutunga and a number of lawyers and human rights advocates had gone to the police station on Saturday to aid the release of 32 protestors who had been arrested during Friday’s Saba Saba demonstrations,
The ex-CJ and Senior Counsel John Khaminwa had been to the station the night before, but when their efforts to free the protesters fell through, they decided to return the next morning.
Kalonzo described to the Kenya Kwanza government’s use of tear gas to disperse them as an unparalleled new low.
“Together with Senior Counsel Dr John Khaminwa, he had accompanied other civil rights activists, to seek the unconditional release of peaceful protesters arrested for exercising their constitutional rights,” Kalonzo said in a statement on Twitter.
“This action, indeed Friday’s, 30 years after the return of multipartyism was a blatant attempt to reverse the hard-fought gains first enshrined 13 years ago in our 2010 Constitution.”
The police action drew condemnation from activists, lawyers, the political class and Kenyans in general.
“The only crime that Willy Mutunga did was he went to demand the immediate release of poor Kenyans who can’t afford lawyers, but they have been unlawfully detained after they were arrested yesterday during the peaceful Saba Saba maandamano,” Alinur Mohamed said.
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“The police now think everyone who asks them to do the right thing is a member of Azimio. Our police officers should ensure no one is using them to beat their mothers, fathers and grandparents. They don’t know what tomorrow has in store for them.”
Activists Boniface Mwangi who was in the company of Mutunga termed as “petty and vindictive” the police action to deny the protesters bond.
“Every suspect has the right to a police bond. Why is the “Christian” regime denying the detained peaceful protesters police bail? Mwangi asked in a tweet.
Lawyer Gitobu Imanyara also condemned the police saying the officers’ actions were uncalled for since entering a police station to facilitate the release of suspects is not a criminal offence.
“The crime is by the police officers who teargassed and violently chased them out of the police compound, a public place. We will never allow a return to a police state we were before 2010,” he said in a statement on Twitter.
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