Who Is Baying For Matiangi’s blood?

By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga

Worth Noting:

• The officers will not tell the suspect, we are coming, wait for us. Why? If you know, you will hide evidence and vanish.
• The reactions of Matiangi’s lawyers and Azimio leaders led by Raila Odinga were swift and they all trained thier guns on President William Ruto.
• This did not come as a surprise. We know the former CS was Raila’s chief campaigner. He never minced word in rallying his community and Kenyans at large behind the presidential candidature of Raila Odinga.
• As a result of this, he occasionally locked horns with Dr Ruto, then Deputy President, and his brigade.

Hours after media reports indicated that the police officers had raided the residence of the former Interior cabinet secretary Fred Matiangi in Nairobi, I had a conversation with a group of Githurai (44) residents touching on this matter.

Two questions came up.

Was this raid sanctioned by the top leadership of the Kenya Kwanza administration? Were the police doing their job as required by the law?

Well, I told them that the law allows the DCI detectives to conduct such raids if they were investigating a crime.  This could eventually lead to the arrest of the person who is being pursued.

The officers will not tell the suspect, we are coming, wait for us.  Why? If you know, you will hide evidence and vanish.

The reactions of Matiangi’s lawyers and Azimio leaders led by Raila Odinga were swift and they all trained their guns on President William Ruto.

This did not come as a surprise. We know the former CS was Raila’s chief campaigner. He never minced word in rallying his community and Kenyans at large behind the presidential candidature of Raila Odinga.

As a result of this, he occasionally locked horns with Dr Ruto, then Deputy President, and his brigade.

The law bars CSs from engaging in politics. We demand that President Uhuru Kenyatta should take action against the CS.

For DP team, this political card was meant to paint the president in bad right.

They knew Matiangi was his right-hand man and so he cannot fire him.

Uhuru’s confidence and trust in Matiangi took a new turn when he shook hand with Raila.

Uhuru elevated him to the position of what many interpreted as a super minister. This is by transferring the key functions and duties he had assigned his deputy to him.

With this, it seemed the power had entered into his head of CS.

He repeatedly stated: There is only one center of power and that is the President. So, I’m only answerable to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The President is supporting the candidature of Raila. This answers the question why I  am openly backing Raila.

Back to the story of alleged plan to arrest Matiangi, it was wrong to drag the name of President. Azimio leaders are known for politicizing anything under the sun. Where is evidence that the police were executing orders from above?

Kenya is not a banana republic. It is a country governed by the rule of law and the constitution. So, no one is above the law.

President has been reiterating his fidelity to the constitution. I and those serving in my administration shall always be guided by the law and not the rule of men.

The Interior cabinet secretary and Inspector General of Police (IGP) have denied that the people who reportedly raided Matiangi’s home were police officers.

Report indicated the raid took place at night and the former CS was not at home.

This raises a couple of queries. Was this incident stage-managed? If yes, by who and what was thier motive? Secondly, if they were police officers, who had given them orders?

Well, the matter is now under investigations. It is important to unearth the truth.

If it turns out this was a stage-managed incident, then those involved must be brought to book.

If it turns out that these were police officers, I would expect them to face a similar fate.

The National Police Service (NPS) Act is very clear.

The officers are supposed to follow the chain of command. This means the IGP should have known about this raid. He, however, stated this matter was not brought to his attention.

Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi