Police disperse Pokomo elders inauguration meeting, citing court order

A planned inauguration of a new council of elders to represent the Pokomo aborted yesterday, after police dispersed a gathering.

Police claimed they were enforcing a court order barring the meeting that had been called to install a new council of Pokomo elders, known as Gassa.

The elders, drawn from different farming tribes, were ordered to leave the meeting at Wema village in Tana Delta after it was declared illegal.

The participants, who had arrived in buses, fled with their luggage and food, fearing arrest.

The Standard could not establish if there was a court order stopping the meeting.

But area OCPD Mohammed Riziki said the elders left peacefully and denied police used force to disrupt the meeting.

The event had been called to replace council chairman Alex Komora, who died two weeks ago, and to inaugurate other officials.

However, some elders accused a politician of interfering with the event.

Gassa includes representatives from the Pokomo nine sub-groups drawn from Mbalambala to Kipini in Garsen.