Pokot South MP David Pkosing arrested over alleged incitement

Pokot South Member of Parliament David Pkosing is presently under interrogation by detectives drawn from the Serious Crimes Unit of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

The legislator was nabbed by the sleuths on Thursday evening at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).

Pkosing was then taken to the DCI headquarters where, by the time of publishing, he was still being interrogated.

Sources privy to the investigations say the legislator is being questioned in line with utterances he made during public rallies in his constituency, media interviews and social media posts that are deemed to carry messages likely to incite inter community violence.

Depending on answers he gives detectives, he could remain in custody and be arraigned Friday, or set free pending further interrogation.

This even as the situation in the six counties termed dangerous and disturbed continued to be tense ahead of a high level multiagency operation set to kick off on Friday.

Thursday marks the lapse of a three-day amnesty period given to the communities to surrender illegal arms to national government administration officers; to date, not a single gun was surrendered.

At Arabal area of Baringo, the situation was tense, other than armoured personnel carriers and media crew vehicles, there was little activity on the roads with shops remaining closed.

Sinoni Primary School had a handful of pupils, with parents keeping most of them away saying they’re not sure what tomorrow holds. They say previous operations of this nature have only provided temporary reprieve.

Villagers moved out with all they could, fleeing, unaware of their destination but too worried to remain.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga faulted the government’s move to deploy the military to the disturbed zone without involving the National Assembly.

“We have seen the military being deployed in the North without the authority of parliament as prescribed in the constitution,” Mr. Odinga said at a press address on Thursday.

“Our constitution is clear that nobody can deploy the military without the authority of parliament. That deployment taken together with real and imaginary enemies of the regime including former officials of the Jubilee government like Dr Fred Matiangi should be a concern to every Kenyan”

The operation that will take place in parts of six counties termed dangerous and disturbed is aimed at tackling banditry, a vice that has claimed, displaced families and lead to loss of livelihoods.