NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 13 – Kapseret lawmaker Oscar Sudi was arrested on Sunday morning after presenting himself to police , hours after locals frustrated an attempt by the police to arrest him on Friday night.
Sudi was accompanied to Kapseret Sub-County Police Station by his lawyer Gladys Boss Shollei (Uasin Gishu Woman Representative), Governor Stephen Sang (Nandi) and MPs Caleb Kositany (Soy), Didimus Baraza (Kimilili) and Cornelly Serem (Aldai).
The MP arrived at the station at around 8am, wearing a heavy red-hooded jacket, black cap and blue jeans and was kept waiting outside the station for roughly 25 minutes, according to live footage streamed on his Facebook account.
“As a law-abiding citizen, I have presented myself at Langas Police Station early this morning even before the officers arrive. It was unnecessary to be treated with a lot of drama by sending a contingent of police officers to my home. I was away the time police arrived at my place. Thank you all for standing with me,” said the MP.
The stream abruptly ended after the MP, who is wanted over hate speech remarks he made earlier this week, was ushered into the OCS Office.
Shollei, who appeared at the station as Sudi’s counsel, said the Kapseret MP will be transported to Nairobi where he is expected to record a statement with the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC).
“Oscar Sudi is okay, he voluntarily presented himself to the police and he is currently on his way to Nairobi, where he shall go and record a statement at the NCIC in accordance with the law,” she told news reporters outside the police station.
The development came a day after locals blocked roads in Kapseret following plans by police to arrest Sudi.
The vocal legislator is also accused of hurling insults at President Uhuru Kenyatta’s mother, Mama Ngina.
Transport was paralyzed along Kapsabet-Eldoret road on Friday night, where youths used logs and stones to block the road as police planned a night arrest.
Sudi remained adamant on his refusal to apologize for remarks targeting President Kenyatta’s family saying, “Kenya does not belong to them.”
Similar remarks were made by Johanna Ng’eno, the Emurua Dikirr MP, who has since faced charges in court for incitement, and freed on bail.
Deputy President William Ruto had prevailed upon politicians to quit insults amid a resurgence in name-calling pitting his supporters against the President’s.
“Leaders should exercise restraint and avoid insults and bad language against other Kenyans. Unsavoury words against mothers and Head of State is a NO, NO. No amount of anger justifies use of offensive insulting language. There exists decent ways to communicate however one feels,” the DP tweeted on September 7.
The latest wave of unpalatable words against the Head of State came in the wake of remarks by Environment and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko who dismissed Ruto as a mere clerk in government.
Ruto’s tweet emerged hours following the arrest of Ng’eno who was accused of insulting First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta and making hostile remarks against founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
Sudi and Ng’eno have accused President Kenyatta of sidelining Ruto in an administration he campaigned selflessly to ascend to power, saying the second in command had be reduces to a squatter in a government he was elected to serve.
Former Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen had made remarks mirroring Sudi’s accusing President Kenyatta on engineering Ruto’s alienation in government.
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