Police raid Joho home, detain him
By Maureen Mudi
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho yesterday was detained by police after he went to a station and demanded to know why officers had ransacked relatives’ houses and detained one person.
Officers at the Urban Police Station also detained Mombasa MPs Abdulswamad Nassir, Rashid Bedzimba (Kisauni) and Suleiman Dori (Msambweni), as well as several MCAs, reports.
Police IG Joseph Boinnet yesterday told the media Joho and the two MPs were not detained but were at the police station, demanding release of a suspect.
He was prevented form leaving, allegedly for creating a disturbance. The county communications director said he had been held since midday.
Joho’s lawyer Mohamed Balala told the Star Joho, the ODM deputy chairman, was detained after he went to find out why his support Ibrahim Katan had been arrested.
“Orders were issued that the governor and the rest should not leave and should be brought clothes, indicating they were to stay here long,” he said.
The development is the latest twist in the deepening feud between the Coast kingpin and President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Jubilee administration. In the past week, Joho embarrassed the President — and his security detail was withdrawn for three days.
Yesterday police also raided the business of Mombasa county inspectorate director Naheed Musa, 30, a licensed gun dealer. Musa said the heavy police presence was a routine inspection.
“This inspection has come at the wrong time because of too much speculation out there. This thing is very normal,” he said.
Musa said the officers arrived at his firearms store in Nyali at 10 am to conduct regular inspection which is done four times annually.
Last week, as Kenyatta was commissioning projects, the governor told him to his face to stop taking credit for projects in Mombasa that were commissioned and funded by the previous regime and by donors.
Soon after, his bodyguards were withdrawn, as well as those of Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi, also a government critic. They were later restored.
However, on Wednesday, Joho announced at an opposition meeting in Nairobi that he didn’t need or want want government bodyguards and he wasn’t afraid of dying.
After his guards were withdrawn, he moved from his palatial Nyali home to a temporary residence with his own security.
Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa had said the extraordinary withdrawal of security was part of a routine internal reorganisation.
He also ordered 105 Mombasa county traffic marshals withdrawn from downtown, but Joho ordered them to remain.
Marwa also said Joho and family members are in possession of firearms. Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar, who is campaigning against Joho, this week said Joho, his guards and entourage have at least 19 guns and frequently intimidate people. He called for a police investigation.