Embakasi MP Ferdinand Waititu was smuggled out of Parliament in a vehicle belonging to another legislator to avoid arrest.
Sources told the Nation on Wednesday that the MP, who was on the run following comments he made on Monday against the Maasai community in Kayole, was holed up at Parliament Buildings until he gave police the slip on Tuesday night.
“Three vehicles entered Parliament and parked for about an hour up to around 8.30pm. Then they left,” a source who sought anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to journalists said.
The vehicle that was in the lead is said to belong to Makadara MP Gidion Mbuvi aka Sonko.
Our sources said they became curious when the MP, who is on sick leave, appeared at the MPs’ parking lot casually dressed and well beyond the House sitting hours.
Mr Mbuvi on Wednesday denied setting foot in Parliament on Tuesday. “My car did not come to town yesterday. It was at Buruburu. I spent the day at the Nairobi Hospital visiting sick constituents,” he told the Nation.
“I cannot do such a thing. I do not support him (Waititu) on this. He should apologise or face the law. I have been preaching peace because I have not forgotten what happened in 2007,” he said.
The Makadara MP said Mr Waititu should be forgiven “because he just slipped.”
Police had been camping at the gates of the National Assembly following orders from Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko and Internal Security minister Katoo ole Metito that Mr Waititu be arrested.
But parliamentary privilege dictates that they can only arrest him out of Parliament. On Wednesday, the Nation learnt that the police left after keeping vigil for an hour, leaving the officers who normally guard the premises.
The police arrived at Parliament shortly after Mr Waititu, a Water and Irrigation assistant minister, had “apologised” to the Kenyan Maasai community over a remark that supposedly incited residents of Kayole. Two people died in the violence that ensued.
Kenyans took to social media to vent their anger at the MP. Kate Gone wrote on Facebook: “Waititu is so crude! That’s not what Nairobi needs for a governor.”
“I hope by tomorrow Waititu will not be an assistant minister … and will soon lose his parliamentary seat,” tweeted one Mac Otani. Last year, Mr Waititu organised youth to block the marking of poorly constructed buildings in Nairobi.
In 2009, he was involved in a stone throwing incident after he claimed a playground in his constituency had been grabbed.
Source:http://www.nation.co.ke
