Chaos as police move in to quell anti-Osoro demos in Kisii
Shots were fired and teargas canisters lobbed into the air as police moved in to end the protests against the South Mugirango MP Sylvanus Osoro.
The riots turned dramatic shortly after the residents torched a coffin in downtown Nyamache.
Some youths were later rounded up by the police and whisked away at the junction on the road heading to Nyamache.
Barricades were erected by the protesters along the Ogembo-Nyangusu road paralyzing traffic for hours before police responded.
Also affected were students heading to school and caught up in the middle of the fracas.
Spontaneous protests also broke out in the Itumbe and Ogembo towns in Bobasi and Bomachoge Chache respectively.
In Ogembo, tires were lit by the protesters halting traffic flow.
In Nyamache, one old woman was caught in the midst as protesters fought back police with stones.
A mixed multitude, consisting of enraged bodaboda operators from Bobasi turned up in hundreds.
MCAs Jacob Bagaka, also Deputy County Assembly Speaker, and Masige East MCA Michael Motume accused the police of using live bullets against unarmed protesters.
“The protests were peaceful until police moved in shooting indiscriminately,” Bagaka said displaying a shell of of one of the billets suspected fired during the protests.
Other MCAs who led the demonstrations include Assembly Majority Leader Henry Moracha and Nyacheki MCA Naftal Onkoba.
They roundly castigated Osoro and called for his arrest.
Onkoba said the protests shall be held each Monday until he is arrested and arraigned in court.
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The Monday protests by Bobasi residents were in response to the incident last week where Governor Simba Arati’s rally was attacked at the Nyakembene area in South Mugirango.
Osoror fought back Monday protests terming them a flop.
The protests, he said, could have made sense if they were held in Nyakembene, South Mugirango the venue of the contested fracas.
“I think they were protesting against the poor service delivery by the governor who hails from Bobasi and not me,” the National Assembly Majority Whip told the Star in a text.
He said the burning of a coffin bearing his name only signified the “dead services from the County”.
“I saw a coffin of ‘DEAD SERVICES’ in Bobasi and some dog sacrifice. That is an illegal ritual and they should instead be arrested, not me,” Osoro responded to those pressing for his arrest and prosecution.
The protests, he added, bore the stamp of a people disillusioned by their county boss.
“Nyamache is 80 km away from Nyakembene. You can’t purport to protest with people who were not anywhere near the venue of the venue,” said Osorio in a rumbling text.
During the Nyakembene fracas, guns were whipped out and shots were fired during the Governor Arati rally.
In Nyamache, MCAs in an address to journalists, however, accused MP Osoro of orchestrating the raid on Arati rally.
They warned him against stepping foot in Bobasi until he apologized to the Governor.
Bagaka especially questioned the commitment of security agencies in the country in taking action against the Majority Chief Whip a week after the incident occurred.
“Let them come out in the open and tell us why he has not been booked anywhere since the barbaric act,” posed Bagaka.
Callen Magara, an Assembly nominee from South Mugirango, castigated Osoro describing his actions as undeserved of a leader of his caliber.
“We as South Mugirango people will continue rallying behind Arati and we shall back him the second stab in office,” she said.
Motume said as Bobasi people, they shall not rest until Osoro is arrested and prosecuted.
“Since the raid on the governorate rally, we have not heard that he has recorded a statement nor arrested,” Motume said.
Nyacheki Ward Rep Naftal Onkoba said the protests shall be held every Monday in all towns across Bobasi to press action on Osoro.
Henry Moracha asked Interior CS Kithure Kindiki to apprehend the Majority Chief Whip.
“If he (Kindiki) can’t arrest him, let him come and arrest all of us. We must find justice within the law and that is why Osoro must be brought to book,” said Moracha.
Chaos as police move in to quell anti-Osoro demos in Kisii
