MPs charged with inciting violence in Marsabit freed on bail

North Horr Member of Parliament Chachu Ganya and his Saku counterpart Ali Rasso were on Tuesday arraigned and charged with inciting violence in Marsabit County leading to the deaths of at least 14 people.

Appearing before Nairobi Senior Principal Magistrate Kennedy Cheruiyot, the two lawmakers denied the charges and were released on a cash bail of Ksh.250,000 or Ksh.1 million bond.

The court also declined the prosecution’s request to detain the MPs for 21 days to allow police complete investigations on the Marsabit clashes.

“I have considered the submissions before court and there was no proof that they (accused) will interfere with prosecution witnesses,” said the magistrate.

The court further agreed with the defence team’s position that Chacha and Rasso had already began reconciliation plans to end the violence in Marsabit.

“The accused are involved in reconciliation, I have seen the pictures,” said Magistrate Cheruiyot. “There are no compelling reasons to deny them bail.”

The magistrate noted that the two had been released on bail to continue with the reconciliation process between the two warring communities in Marsabit.

They were directed to report to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations every week.

The two MPs spent Monday night at Kileleshwa Police Station after they were arrested in Marsabit and driven to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Nairobi.

Last week, Marsabit Governor Ali Mohamud Mohamed and the two MPs were separately grilled by DCI officers in Embu led by Eastern Region Director of Criminal Investigation John Gacomo.

The Eastern region DCI boss said the three leaders were summoned after they were adversely mentioned as being behind the skirmishes.

Hundreds of people have fled their homes in the affected areas, with 16 schools in villages such as Shur, Oronderi, Qubi qallo and Jaldesa being closed.