MP roughed up in Uganda over claims of registering residents as Kenyan voters

juma chrispinus

January 31, 2017 10:07 AM

The MP escaped on foot while his board guard was detained in the foreign land. There have been claims of trafficking non-Kenyans to register as voters from the opposition.

Teso South Member of Parliament Mary Emase escaped on foot narrowly in Uganda as her bodyguard was arrested and detained by the Uganda police.

Emase has been dirtied with claims of trafficking neighboring Ugandan nationals to register as Kenyan voters.

So far the whereabouts of Emase is not known, raising eyebrows on whether she really escaped or she has been equally detained. Police in Kenya said they were aware that the MP's bodyguard had been disarmed and detained at Mawero police station.

"Initial reports we have indicate that the MP's bodyguard was arrested. Her car was also detained at the station. We don't know if she was arrested too but she is not at her house," said a senior officer who asked not to be named, a local daily has reported.

The officer said Emase was in Uganda in an event with locals near the border that was stormed by officers. He added that police had been informed she was meeting a crowd and urging them to enlist as Kenyan voters when the Ugandan officials acted.

A witness at the border said the MP was facilitated and managed to cross to Kenya but the bodyguard has since been detained. Until the publishing of this story, it is not clear if there plans to rescue the bodyguard form the foreign land’s law paws.

Witnesses said that the Member of Parliament was covered and facilitated through the border.

Her mobile phone, the paper reports, was not reachable. Equally, her personal assistant, Lucy Ogutu, said the MP was safe but could not reveal her we whereabouts.

The Jubilee MP is said to be part of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s campaign team in Western region. She is in a group of Bungoma Governor Ken Lusaka and Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali.

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This comes in the wake of claims the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD) leader Raila Odinga claiming that some Kenyan security agencies were recruiting Ugandans and Ethiopians to list as voters in the ongoing mass voter registration exercise.

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