Former interior says they watched Raila Odinga swear-in himself as the people's president instead of sending police to them, as it was all comedy. Photo: DCP party X.
For the first time, former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has disclosed why Jubilee government did not interfere with the swearing in of ODM party leader Raila Odinga as people’s president in March 2018.
Speaking during an interview on Monday said that the administration did not send the police to cause chaos at Uhuru Park, as it was all comedy and public stunts, despite being the CS Interior.
Matiang’i said that together with other top security officials, they watched the proceedings from control room as the ‘joke’ unfolded without shooting anyone. According to him, any attempt to shoot the people would have led to more deaths due to stampede that would have occurred as the multitude was huge.
He faulted the decision of accusing former president Uhuru Kenyatta of shooting as misguided, as the event went on peacefully without any interference by the the government. He acknowledged that demonstrations were witnessed during their tenure, they understood when to respond.
“I knew how things will fold. I was the minister then. Tulikuwa na maandamano kwa hiyo miaka tano. Even the opposition leader tried to swear himself in as the president. We sat in the control room with the generals and agreed that if we were to shoot, the deaths would be high from the stampede. We watched wakijienjoy na wakamaliza wakaenda nyumbani jioni,” Matiang’i said.
The swearing came in after the opposition fraction led by Odinga denounced the results over irregularities, which witnessed a series of protests dubbed Maandamano Mondays in 2018.
However, controversial lawyer Miguna Miguna, who swore in Odinga decried harassment, betrayal and atrocities meted to him by the Jubilee government and Matiang’i, including destruction of his house and passport.
Miguna in an interview on Sunday, said that he had specifically sued Matiang’i for deporting him unconscious to Dubai, detaining him illegally and defying court orders against his case, and seeking huge damages from him in the case.
