Is Lawyer Omari To Blame for ex-CS Matiangi Woes?

By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga

Worth Noting:

• After the examination, the investigating officer (s) would come to the conclusion. He had lied. The process of arraigning him in court to face charges of felony and giving false information started, one of the television stations under the Royal Media Service (RMS) further reported.
• To me, Matiangi’s lead lawyer Danstun Omari is largely to be blamed for woes he is currently facing.
• To prove my point, allow me to revisit the article I wrote in this column relating his outbursts condemning the second raid at Matiangi’s home. Why I was anxious to hear his reactions? I had two reasons.

Two days after returning   back to the country from United Kingdom (UK), former Interior CS Fred Matiangi presented himself to the DCI headquarters.

He had earlier skipped a date with sleuths but this did not amount to defiance of law.

According to his lawyers, the summons had not been issued in accordance with the provisions of law.

Upon his arrival at DCI on Kiambu road, Matiangi was ushered into the examination room. To him, this was a shocking and unbelievable development.

Reason? His fate now lied on the hands of the same officers who a few months earlier used to always salute him and treat him with utter respect.

DCI is one of the departments of the National Police Service (NPS).

As a powerful minister of internal security in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government, the ex-CS was their boss.

As ordered, Matiangi arrived in the morning and he was accompanied by a host of lawyers and Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya leaders led by Raila Odinga.

The politicians were not allowed to enter the compound of DCI offices.

At one point, Raila lost his cool and he was overheard protesting. Why are you blocking from getting inside?

This is a public office and we have a right to see the head of DCI. Do you want me to call this people-supporter-and break down this gate? He was however calmed down by other Azimio leaders.

The media reports indicated that ex-CS’s grilling centered on claims he had made earlier that his residence in Karen had been raided by armed police officers.

After the examination, the investigating officer (s) would come to the conclusion. He had lied. The process of arraigning him in court to face charges of felony and giving false information started, one of the television stations under the Royal Media Service (RMS) further reported.

To me, Matiangi’s lead lawyer Danstun Omari is largely to be blamed for woes he is currently facing.

To prove my point, allow me to revisit the article I wrote in this column relating his outbursts condemning the second raid at Matiangi’s home.  Why I was anxious to hear his reactions? I had two reasons.

First, he had initially stated that in the first raid at night dozens of armed police officers had forcibly  stormed, raided and surrounded  the compound and home of his client, ex-CS.

We condemn this incident in strongest terms possible.

This is violation of law because the ‘officers did not have a court order’.

He was being flanked by the leaders of Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya Coalition led by Raila Odinga outside the home of Matiangi.

Allegedly, they were there to respond to a distress call.

A few days later, Omari changed the story. He said there was nobody in the compound of the home of ex-CS.

Initially, you said that the home had been raided. You have changed tune. Why?

This is how he responded. There were vehicles parked outside on a public road. We suspected the occupants were police officers and they intended to raid the home.

He spoke after the heads of the state security agencies-DCI, IGP and Ministry of Interior- vehemently denied that the police had raided the home and wanted to arrest the ex-CS.

We challenge the lawyer and Azimio brigade to prove thier claims by releasing the video clips showing the images of the officers who entered the compound.

By making a U-turn, Omari seemed to have come to this reality. We have been cornered.

We have no evidence to support our claims.  So, the way out of this is to politicize this matter. Otherwise, this might land me and my client in trouble in coming days.

He spoke as head of DCI Mohamed Amin announced that the investigations have been commenced. We want to get to the bottom of this matter.

If it is true that the police officers were involved, we want to know who sent them. The National Police Service (NPS) Code of Conduct is very clear. The officers are supposed to follow the chain of command.

If it turns out this incident was staged-managed, the heads will roll. We will ensure the planners have faced the force of law.

When the police visited Matiangi’s home to retrieve the CCTV footage, they made it very clear that this was the first visit.

Contrary to Omari claims, we had a  court order allowing us to retrieve the footages. We have so far made good progress in probing earlier claims that the home of CS had been raided.

After completing this exercise, we shall definitely take people to court.

The position of the National Police Service (NPS) remained clear. The actions of the people, who had cooked the story of raid, posed a real threat to the national security. They were designed to disrupt peace and unity that our country was enjoying.

I want to remind Omari even when he alleged the first raid took place; the CCTV cameras were still there. How come nothing was captured? Perhaps, this explains why police are treating him as a person of interest.

This is my unsolicited advise to former CS. If he had picked him to be his spokesman, he should reconsider his decision. His loose and uncontrolled tongue is dangerous and it is doing more harm than good to him.

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

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Mount Kenya Times’ editorial stance.