Malala arrested, senators who’d gone to rescue him change tack after seeing GSU lorry

By , K24 Digital
On Mon, 17 Aug, 2020 14:50 | < 1 min read
Cleophas Malala
Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala. PHOTO | CHRISTINE MUSA | FILE
Police arrest Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala (in blue shirt) at his home in Kitengela, Kajiado County on Monday, August 17, 2020. PHOTO | CHRISTINE MUSA

By Christine Musa

Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala has been arrested by Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers at his Kitengela home after 10 hours of being under house arrest.

In a dramatic arrest at 2:2pm, Senator Malala was seized following a standoff that lasted for an hour between police and a group of senators who had gone to rescue him after Speaker Kenneth Lusaka adjourned debate on revenue sharing formula.

Senators Kipchumba Murkomen(Elgeyo Marakwet), Mutula Junior (Makueni), Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi), Aaron Cheruiyot (Kericho), Ledama Lekina (Narok) and Stewart Madzayo(Kilifi) attempted to shield Malala, engaging the detectives in bitter exchanges for an hour.

The furious legislatures demanded that they all be arrested, saying the arrest of Malala was intimidation over his stance on the third basis for sharing of county revenue.

https://twitter.com/K24Tv/status/1295321220301369344

After highly-heated exchanges, the detectives said Malala was being arrested for defying the government protocols on COVID-19 prevention while distributing sanitizers in his county on Sunday.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Makueni Senator Mutula Jr. said that police had locked the main gate to the townhouses where Malala lives with handcuffs.