Kisii senator Richard Onyonka escaped the wrath of suspected goons after encountering them while on his way to Bondo Saturday evening, April 25.
The senator, coming from a Linda Mwananchi political rally in Vihiga, was to reunite with his colleagues at Kang'o Ka Jaramogi where they were to pay homage to the late Raila Odinga before proceeding to Kisumu, where they would be organising another political rally Sunday, April 26.
He made a stopover at a hotel near Bondo oblivious to what awaited him.
On alighting from his vehicle to enter the hotel, the suspected goons had already surrounded him.
They were declaring that they won't allow him in owing to his political stance.
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They ordered him to board the vehicle and leave the premises.
"Leave! Get into your vehicle and leave!" one could be heard in a video shared by the senator.
Onyonka obliged, entered the vehicle and left with his team. They were unhurt.
The vocal senator blamed his predicament on President William Ruto, whom he accused of patronising goons to counter his critics.
"On my way to Kang'o KaJaramogi, I made a stopover in one restaurant near Bondo where I intended to have a meal. A few minutes later goons appeared and started harassing me saying that I can't eat in Luo, Nyanza because I'm a Kisii and opposing William Ruto. We left unhurt! The goons came in proboxes!" Onyonka said.
Speaking hours after the incident, Onyonka blamed it on the political intolerance that was becoming unbearable in the country.
He argued that while some Kenyans support Ruto's regime, others are also entitled to not supporting him as a matter of democracy.
Onyonka attributed his safety to the owner of the hotel, who confronted the men.
"One slammed onto my leg, but I'd already gotten into my car. The truth is that incident was not good of course, but there's something nice that came out of it. The owner of that hotel kept telling those people that I am a customer, that he had no politicians here, that I had gone to eat and he did't know where I came from. He asked them why they were attacking me," he said.
Despite the experience, Onyonka vowed to stick in Linda Mwananchi, as he was partaking in a cause to change the country for the better.
The incident ensued weeks after Vihiga senator Godfrey Osotsi was attacked and beaten in Kisumu.
Osotsi, another Linda Mwananchi adherent, was in a hotel in Kisumu when his attackers showed up in their numbers.
CCTV captured them dragging the senator from where he had sat and started clobbering him.
Despite his helplessness, they sustained the attack, later leaving the senator injured as they took off from the scene.
Osotsi was injured. He was rushed to the Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu before his referral to The Karen Hospital in Nairobi.
Meanwhile, three suspects were arrested and detained as investigators from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) embarked on their probe into the incident.
Osotsi, later after being discharged from hospital, linked his attack to Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo.
He claimed that the PS had a set of goons whom he contracts to take on the opposition.
In the face of the attack, Osotsi vowed not to relent in calling out the current regime, declared that he would stick to his political cause, which doesn't align with the current regime in power.
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