Sharp and loose tongues that land leaders in trouble

Nominated MP Maina Kamanda during a service at ACK St. Christopher's Mathare Parish in Nairobi. [David Njaaga/Standard]

They took an oath to protect the law when sworn into office, but some have found themselves on the wrong side of the very law they swore to defend.

The corridors of justice are frequented by MPs appearing before a magistrate or judge seeking anticipatory bail or to take plea for allegedly breaking the law.

The list of legislators arrested over utterances made in public, creating disturbance, resisting arrest and interfering with police operations is long.

Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro is the latest to be arrested after storming a Catholic church in his constituency on Sunday, where he engaged in an altercation with nominated MP Maina Kamanda on grounds that the later embarrassed him by failing to adhere to protocol.

Nyoro, who appeared before Resident Magistrate Sheila Nyaga, is still waiting for charges to be preferred against him by the Director of Criminal Prosecutions.

An ardent proponent of Deputy President William Ruto’s bid for the presidency in 2022 and the Tanga Tanga movement, Nyoro has pleaded with Interior Permanent Secretary Karanja Kibicho not to involve police officers in politics.

But it is the same MP who called on President Uhuru Kenyatta on his Facebook page in October 2017 to declare a state of emergency for six months and rule by the fist when several Opposition leaders were against his ideas.

He told the President to redeem the country from dark forces by scrapping the Supreme Court and making the Judiciary a department of the Executive.

Kamanda has in the past also found himself on the wrong side of the law. In 2001, when he was Starehe MP, Kamanda was found on the wrong side of the law over a comment he made at a rally organised by the Central Kenya Parliamentary Group at Kinoru Stadium in Meru.

Last month, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei was also in court over utterances he made at a funeral in Olessos in his county, where he appeared to warn the Deputy President’s detractors of unspecified action, adding that they (sic) were profiling them and will deal with them when time comes.

Emurua Dikirr MP Johana Ng’eno was arrested with a Narok Member of County Assembly in August as they attempted to enter part of the Mau Forest where the government was planning to evict 10,000 alleged illegal settlers.

The MP was accused by law enforcers of inciting locals, holding an illegal meeting and causing obstruction.

Other leaders like Moses Kuria, Johnstone Muthama, Junet Mohamed, Aisha Jumwa, Florence Mutua, Timothy Bosire, Kimani Ngunjiri and Ferdinand Waititu have also been arrested and charged in court over various offences.