We Will Land You In Jail! Thika West’s 2017 Aspirants Who Engage In Hooliganism Warned.

Thika West DCC Tom Anjere ubriefing the press on the various resolutions that his administration and the politicians came up with during the security meeting.

Thika west DCC Tom Anjere has warned politicians eying the various seats in 2017 that they will be sent to prison if they broke the law. 

Speaking to both the incumbents and the aspiring candidates during a security meeting in Thika, the DCC said that even though it was not yet electioneering time, those who did campaign should ensure peace and tranquility prevailed at all times. He warned the politicians that they will be held responsible for all what their supporters did during their campaigns.

“As members of Thika West security team, we will not sit back and watch politicians or their supporters break the law with impunity in the name of campaigns. Elections will be conducted in just a day and we will not let Thika to burn just because of politics. You should all remember that we will only emerge with one winner at a time and whoever will lose must remember that there is life after politics. Thika remains and we will not compromise on security just to suit the whims of an individual,” said Anjere.

Anjere said that his office would work with all relevant organs of government including Francis Ole Kaparo led National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to ensure those who failed to check on hate speech will be dealt with accordingly.

He added that it was quite unfortunate that we recently lost the life of an innocent mwanachi as a result of political hooliganism and intolerance. The DCC said had the conveners of the meeting taken charge of their supporters, such an incident would not have occurred.

So Many Firearms in Civilian Hands.

“We are witnessing so many cases of civilians carrying firearms into political venues in the name of protecting you the politicians. We are even questioning their legitimacy. Why do you need a gun in a public rally? We have enough to cover everywhere. From today on, we will not allow civilian firearms into political gatherings. We will demand every gun to be deposited into police care before anyone is allowed into these venues,” he said.

The DCC also said that those using gangs like ‘mungiki’ and ‘gaza’ in their campaigns will be fully held responsible for any crime that these gangs will commit. He said that they will specifically target those who used these gangs to disrupt other people’s meetings or mutilate their opponents’ campaign materials.

“Let’s compete against issues and not mudslinging each other. Aspirants should accord the sitting MP, MCAs and the others their due respect. Likewise, those in office should appreciate the coming of those who want to unseat them. By the end of the day, it is the mwananchi who will make the final decision,” he noted.

Notify OCS of Rallies.

Thika OCPD Erastus Muthamia said that, under the law, the police were mandated to regulate every meeting that took place within their areas of jurisdiction. He added that all meetings must be held between 6:30am and 6:30pm and anyone who flouted this law would be charged in court as this endangered other people’s lives.

“You must notify the OCS of your intent to hold a political gathering that exceeds 6 people. In your application, the law demands that you state your venue, agenda and the time you expect to hold the meeting. In this way, you assist the police in providing security,” said Muthamia.

Resolutions.

After discussing with the leaders, it was resolved that:-

• The district security team will not compromise on irresponsible utterances by the politicians themselves or their supporters. Any politician who failed to manage their supporters will be aligned in court.

• Every candidate should strictly adhere to the time limits and at no given time that anyone will be allowed to hold night campaigns.

• The police will be frisking everyone who attends any political gathering and weapons deposited with the police for collection after the meeting.

• The politicians should sit down with their OCS to prepare a calendar of their events to avoid cases of two or more politicians clashing in the same venue at any given time.

• Another meeting will be scheduled to include the county government, IEBC and other stakeholders so as to ensure that everyone read from the same page.

• The DCC will be convening similar meetings every two months so as to give the politicians and the authorities some platform to evaluate their progress.

• Politicians should avoid the habit of giving money to their supporters as it was the lack of the same that led to some of them to result in mugging out of frustrations.

• Each politician should mobilise all those without ID cards and all potential voters to register in their numbers. They should also assist the over 3,000 uncollected IDs reach their owners.

 Present at the meeting included Thika East DCC Christopher Wanjau, Area MP Alice Ng’ang’a, Patrick Wainaina (Wa Jungle) who is eying the Thika seat, MCAs Mwangi Wamwangi (J BEE), Kennedy Mwangi (Kentams), Nominated MCA Emily W. Warutere, Thika West DAPC Samuel Ombonya among others.