Police Spokesperson Bruno Shioso has explained why they are yet to arrest senior politicians in the country for hosting huge political rallies, despite the existing ban occasioned by Covid-19.
Speaking on Monday night during an interview on Citizen TV, Bruno noted that some of the rallies have a lot of attendants, making it difficult to arrest them since they lack resources and capacity to.
Explaining why they are yet to arrest any politician for planning and hosting the huge rallies, Bruno said for the case to hold water, they need both the politician and attendants, however, the huge turnouts makes it impossible for them to arrest anyone.
He further noted that the National Police Service (NPS) closely monitors all the meetings, adding that for gatherings with small numbers, officers will always move in and take action.
“At times you find these are big rallies with so many Kenyans…Even if we arrest them, where do you take them in the first place? If we get a small number of people and the politicians, we shall arrest them.
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File image of a political rally in Kenya. [Photo: Courtesy]
“Arresting is one thing, prosecuting is another thing. If the facts of the case being that it is a rally of politicians and members of the public, it is supposed that we arrest everybody, or at least the politicians and some member of the public… We feel it is a bit challenging given the public interest and other issues,” he said.
According to him, the best way to handle the issue is through crime prevention where Kenyans themselves refuse to attend the huge gatherings.
Over the past few weeks, a section of Kenyan politicians including Deputy President William Ruto and ODM Leader Raila Odinga have been traversing the country selling their agendas ahead of 2022.
In the different parts they have visited, the politicians have addressed huge crowds, putting the locals at risk of contracting and spreading the Covid-19 virus.
