Arresting senators on eve of key debate reeks of mischief

The dramatic arrest of three senators yesterday raised eyebrows—and for a good reason.

While it is in order for the police to arrest, charge and arraign anyone suspected of committing a crime, the manner in which Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala (Deputy Minority Whip), Christopher Lang’at (Bomet) and Stephen Lelegwe of Samburu were hunted down raised many questions.

For one, it was bizarre for police officers to raid the legislators’ homes to arrest them in the middle of the night. Just what crime would necessitate such action? Interestingly, the reasons for their arrest were still not apparent to the public by afternoon yesterday although initially media reports indicated that at least one of them was being sought for incitement.

It would be interesting to know what grave sins they committed to warrant the night visits. It would also be interesting to know whether the senators’ crimes were worse than those of police officers who brutalised a female city MCA in the full glare of the camera, but whom are yet to be arrested. But whatever the crimes, it would have been prudent for police officers to summon the lawmakers. By raiding their homes in the dead of night, police not only violated the rights and peace of the MPs, but also of their families. This smells like unalloyed intimidation. No wonder senators opposed to the revenue sharing formula that is favoured by the government side are reading mischief.

The arrests looked like a deliberate attempt to send the contentious debate on the sharing of county revenue into a tailspin.

If that was the motive, those who plotted the move were geniuses because the arrests temporarily disrupted Senate yesterday. It would be tragic if the arrests make the debate to hit a snag as counties would have to wait much longer to get the cash they sorely need to get things moving.

There is another possibility. Masterminds of the arrests, if indeed they exist, could have wanted the three out of the way so that they could have their way during the debate by trying to push through their preferred formula. If that was the case, it was a bare-knuckled attack on democracy. But if indeed there was no devious plot, why didn’t the police wait for the House to conclude its business yesterday and then arrest the lawmakers thereafter?