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Police Thursday disrupted political rallies organised by embattled Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and his Kilifi counterpart Amason Kingi in Kwale County at the Kenya coast.
The combined force of Regular and General Service Unit policemen first dispersed a crowd that had gathered at Kinango ready to be addressed by governors Joho and Kingi and other ODM party leaders.
The security personnel in full riot gear, lobbed tear gas canisters into the crowd, forcing them to scamper for safety.
Others were clobbered to leave the venue as Mr Joho’s chopper overflew the area.
Efforts by governors Joho and Kingi to later address the Orange Democratic Movement supporters, some wearing Orange T-shirts, were futile.
A medical camp
Police insisted they had not been notified of the event, and that another meeting had been planned at the Kinango market.
Area police chief Fredrick Lai's representative Lawrence Charo said the venue had been booked for a medical camp.
He said police were on the ground “to do their job” and that no arrests were made.
Mr Charo said the ODM leaders defied police orders to hold their rally at another venue.
Forced to run
ODM supporters were also forced to run before Mr Joho’s brigade arrived in MP Khatib Mwashetani Lunga Lunga constituency.
Mr Mwashetani, who was elected on a Ford-Kenya ticket, is allied to the ruling Jubilee coalition.
Mr Joho’s events in Matuga and Msambweni in the county that overwhelmingly voted for ODM in the 2013 polls were also cancelled.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party has been trying to penetrate the county and got a boost following the defection of Governor Salim Mvurya, Woman Rep Zainab Chidzuga and Mr Mwashetani to the formation.
Give permits
Mr Mvurya refuted claims by ODM leaders that he was involved in the disruption of the rallies.
“I am not aware why the meeting was disrupted because I don’t give permits. There are procedures to be followed,” he said.
Mr Joho condemned the break-up of his meetings and accused the Jubilee government of being behind the scheme.
He said police were being used in Jubilee Party campaigns yet they had a responsibility to protect all Kenyans.
Well covered
The police action, said Mr Joho, would only embolden his move with Governors Kingi and John Mruttu to unite Coast residents and vote out the Jubilee administration in the August polls.
He said just as security was heightened during President Kenyatta and other Jubilee Party leaders rally in Tononoka two weeks, the ODM event should also have been well covered.
Coast Regional Coordinator Nelson Marwa, who had earlier warned Mr Joho to confine his meetings in Mombasa County, said he was not aware of the disruptions.
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