Tension was high at the Central Police Station in Nakuru on Tuesday, June 23, after residents stormed the precinct demanding the release of Kuresoi MP Alfred Mutai.
The scores of people camped at the station and declared that they would not leave without Mutai, who had been taken into custody on Monday.
The crowd charged against the four officers manning the entrance, stating that they were ready to die. However, the officers, including one who was armed with a rifle, exercised restraint despite agitation from the crowd.
According to the locals, the MP was being held illegally, as he had been in custody for more than 24 hours without being charged in court.
They further claimed that he was being persecuted because he was a 'poor man' and a 'nobody'. Mutai was implicated in a fracas where three people were shot and wounded after his and Governor Susan Kihika's supporters clashed.
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"Give us our poor person so that we can go home with him. Why are you holding him in custody, yet you have no evidence against him? Why not take him to court?" the protesters posed.
They further accused the police of deliberately holding him until the end of office hours so that they could not process his bail and secure his release.
Mutai was arrested after he availed himself to the Nakuru DCI in the company of his lawyers after the National Police Service declared him a person of interest in the shootings.
The police had labelled him as a prime suspect who was on the run and urged him to surrender to the nearest police station to assist the officers with investigations into the incident.
At least three people sustained gunshot wounds during the scaffold. Several vehicles sustained damage as the clashing groups pelted stones at each other.
A mini-bus used to ferry attendees of the empowerment programme was torched by the warring groups.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen condemned the incident, stating that political intolerance was not acceptable. He further promised to bring everyone who was involved in the melee to book.
