Deputy President William Ruto’s highly anticipated meeting in Western Kenya has been ended prematurely.
The meeting which was to take place at Malava MP Malulu Injendi’s home in Malava where DP Ruto was expected to attend ended prematurely after police lobbed teargas to disperse the crowd that had already gathered at the lawmaker’s home.
The government has banned all public gatherings to curb the spread of Covid-19, but some politicians have been defying this directive to hold political rallies.
Police in Bungoma on Friday June 19, 2020 teargassed Ford-Kenya Party Leader Moses Wetangula and other leaders from Western Kenya as they attempted to address the public in Kimilili town.
This is the first the Bungoma Senator was returning to his home turf following leadership wrangles in his party which saw him temporarily replaced as the Party Leader by a splinter faction led by Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi and Tongaren MP Eseli Simiyu who is also the party’s Secretary General.
Wetangula who was leading a convoy into Kimilili Town was unable to proceed after police teargassed his vehicles over concerns of social distancing by the crowds that were gathering around him.
Two weeks ago, police dispersed a gathering in Shinyalu, Kakamega County ,that was being addressed by former Kakamega Senator Dr. Bonny Khalwale.
Khalwale and the residents including boda-boda riders were forced to scamper for safety in a maize plantation as police hurled teargas canisters.
The former Senator was telling off COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli, CS Eugene Wamalwa, area Governor Wycliffe Oparanya and leaders who attended a meeting held in Kajiado to deliberate on Luhya unity ahead of the 2022 elections.
Khalwale claimed the meeting convened at the COTU Secretary General’s Kajiado was part of a plan to divide the Luhya community for political gain.
The gathering was in outright defiance of the COVID-19 containment measures set by the government which has since banned any form of gatherings to curb the spread of the virus.
Most of the residents at the gathering had no face masks let alone ignoring the directive to observe social distancing.