Assembly officer faces charges of Sh800,000 mace theft

Deputy Chief Sergeant-at-arms Idah Adhiambo Arodi at a Homa Bay court, where she pleaded not guilty to charges of stealing the county assembly's mace. She was released of Sh200,000 bond. [James Omoro, Standard]

A senior county assembly official has been charged with stealing the Sh800,000 County Assembly mace that went missing two weeks ago.

County Assembly Deputy Chief Sergeant-at-arms Idah Adhiambo Arodi appeared before Homa Bay Principal Magistrate Susan Ndegwa, and denied stealing the mace.

Ms Arodi was released on a Sh200,000 bond and surety of the same amount.

Police claimed she was arrested while attempting to sneak the item back into the county assembly offices.

In the first count, Arodi was charged with collaborating with other people not before court to steal the mace worth Sh800,000 on October 16.

She was then charged with handling the property stolen from the office of Homa Bay County Assembly Speaker Elizabeth Ayoo.

The case will be mentioned on November 12, and heard on November 26.

Arodi was arrested on Sunday evening.

In the same matter, two guards of the county assembly were arraigned for preventing police from proceeding with a probe into the loss of the mace.

Blocking access

The two were accused of blocking Homa Bay Deputy OCPD Sammy Nyongesa and Constable Richard Machuki from accessing the assembly premises.

The accused, Hezron Ouma Sewe and Antonina Auma Omole, appeared before Ms Ndegwa and pleaded guilty.

In mitigation, the two sought leniency, saying they were the breadwinners for their families.

Hezron further told the court his mother was blind. “My mother cannot survive if I am detained,” said Ouma.

Omole said her ailing husband and young baby needed her. “My baby depends on me for breast feeding,” she said.

They were remanded at Homa Bay Prison and will return to court on November 2.