NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 21 \u2013 Uncertainty is hanging over Saturday\u2019s planned Linda Mwananchi rally in Kakamega, with police and organizers giving different accounts on whether proper notice was issued.<\/p>\n
The rally is being led by embattled Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary General Edwin Sifuna.<\/p>\n
Western Regional Police Commander Isaak Mahoud said police only learned about the planned rally through social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s allegations that we\u2019ll have a rally led by Senator Sifuna\u2026 That\u2019s what we got through social media. We have never met anybody talking about that rally,\u201d Mahoud said.<\/p>\n
He added that no formal request for police support had been made to his office.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nobody who has come to my office requesting for any assistance, but we\u2019ll assist them as much as we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mahoud said police are focused on maintaining peace, regardless of political differences.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose accusations and counter-accusations are purely political. Ours is to maintain peace,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cWe will not accept lawlessness here.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also claimed police had received intelligence reports suggesting some people travelling from Nairobi for the rally could be armed, insisting police are prepared to deal with any situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s a problem, I have enough officers. We will ensure there is peace,\u201d Mahoud said.<\/p>\n
On his part, Sifuna dismissed claims that police were not informed, saying the rally was properly notified.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have sent the notification for the Kakamega rally,\u201d Sifuna said, adding that he shared the details directly to ensure authorities could not later deny knowledge of the event.<\/p>\n
He said the notice was served on Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen to prevent any attempt to block the gathering.<\/p>\n
Sifuna also raised concern over recent political events, warning against what he termed heavy-handed police actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost a life needlessly in Kitengela because of police action,\u201d he said, referring to a previous incident during a political meeting.<\/p>\n
As the day unfolds, it remains unclear whether the Linda Mwananchi rally will proceed, with both police and organizers standing by their statements.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 21 \u2013 Uncertainty is hanging over Saturday\u2019s planned Linda Mwananchi rally in Kakamega, with police and organizers giving different accounts on whether proper notice was issued. The rally is being led by embattled Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary General Edwin Sifuna. Western Regional Police Commander Isaak Mahoud said police only learned about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131640\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}