Why police raided former Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala’s home

Former Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala’s home was on Thursday raided in a foiled attempt to arrest him for allegedly orchestrating violence during the county’s gubernatorial election held on August 29, 2022, police have said.

Western Regional Police Commander Peris Kimani, speaking to Citizen Digital, said the former lawmaker has been identified as a person of interest in 4 out of 17 cases of violence recorded across the county on the aforementioned date.

Malala, Kimani stated, was allegedly at the centre of three cases of assault that saw some Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party officials descended upon by goons as well as a robbery incident.

According to the police boss, efforts to apprehend Malala proved futile as he allegedly ignored summons and refused to grant access to detectives who were deployed to his home.

"Today our officers went to the outgoing Senator's home to arrest him but he refused to open for them. This is despite the fact that he failed to adhere to a police summon yesterday," Kimani said.

"This follows the cases which came up during the just concluded elections. We had so many people who were involved in issues during the elections. He was involved in four of the reported seventeen cases and we needed him to come for processing."

She went on to say that once Malala's case is processed, it will be forwarded to the Judiciary for appropriate legal action.

“We are requesting him to appear at the police station so that we can process these cases and forward them to court. We as the NPS cannot conclude cases; they can only be wrapped up by courts. We are asking the Senator to appear at the DCI office for processing,” she said.

Kimani's sentiments were reiterated by Western Region's DCI boss Chacha Magwe who noted that Malala had left the police with no choice but to use force to reel him in.

“It is not that we are investigating Malala alone; we are investigating every person who committed an electoral offences on August 29. The cases were many and Malala is directly involved in four," he said.

"If he refuses to follow the law we are left with no choice but to use necessary force to get him because nobody is above the law."