Ndii's wife recounts details of husband’s arrest, calls for for his release

David Ndii’s wife, Mwende addresses reporters  in Mombasa on Monday. [Photo: Courtesy]

Following the dramatic arrest of Nasa strategist and economist David Ndii, his wife, Mwende Gatabaki,  has asked  President Uhuru Kenyatta to release her husband.

An incensed Mwende recounted how seven police officers, two of whom were armed, stormed into their hotel room on Sunday evening and demanded to search their baggage.

Mwende was at first reluctant and demanded  a search warrant from the officers,  which demand  was vaguely turned down before complying. The detectives from the Special Crime Prevention Unit were looking for Dr Ndii’s laptop with the aim of extracting information related to Nasa’s plans.

“The police had to write the search warrant three times because they kept on correcting it. At some point they were referring to me as ‘suspect,'" said Mwende.

Mrs Ndii said the officers told her that they were taking her husband to Diani Police Station but on getting there 10 minutes later, she realised she had been lied to. 

She has asked the President, whom she said recalled her back to Kenya in 2014 to help in the building of a database, which according to her, would help in transitioning the presidential digital transformation of the country.

“I am asking the president: Where is that man who brought me back to this country in 2014 to create a single source of truth to create transparency?”

Mrs Ndii  added that her husband was neither a criminal nor  guilty of corruption.

Earlier Monday morning, Nasa lawyers led by Siaya Senator James Orengo, Norman Magaya and Edwin Sifuna were barred from enterring  DCI headquarters in Nairobi, where Mr Ndii was held for questioning. Lawyer Otiende Omollo had said that Ndii would be charged at the Milimani Law courts on Monday afternoon. 

The family was staying at the Leopard Beach Resort in Diani, Kwale County, where they were waiting to attend a relative’s wedding until the arrest.