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Drama as police raid Mildred Owiso’s home

By Hilary Kimuyu January 25th, 2020 2 min read

Activist and blogger Mildred Atty Owiso was on Saturday morning arrested by almost a dozen police officers who raided her house.

Police lobbed teargas in the dawn raid as they forced their way into her premises in Buruburu estate. The activist streamed the altercation live on Facebook page, Buyer Beware.

Some officers could be seen jumping over her locked gate while others were seen on top of her house.

Her arrest is believed to be connected to a video clip which she shared on social media on Thursday of a traffic police officer who entered her car along Jogoo Road over a traffic offence.

In the video clip, the controversial blogger adamantly refused to drive to a police station with the male officer in her car.

ENTER HER CAR

She argued that the officer had no right to enter her car.

According to Traffic Act Section 105, any police officer in uniform is allowed to stop any vehicle on the road and enter it during the routine inspection.

“It shall be lawful for any police officer in uniform to stop any vehicle, and for any police officer, licensing officer or inspector, (a) to enter any vehicle; (b) to drive any vehicle or cause any vehicle to be driven; (c) upon reasonable suspicion of any offense under this Act, to order and require the owner of any vehicle to bring the vehicle to him,” the traffic Act reads in part.

It further states that any person who fails to comply with any instructions given under this section shall be guilty of an offence and liable on a first conviction, to a fine not exceeding Sh30,000 and for a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding Sh50,000 or to imprisonment for a term of one year.

Instead, she demanded to be booked and notified about the station she should meet the policeman, if at all she had a traffic offence.

Other motorists and road users quickly milled around the car which had been parked at a Shell petrol station upon hearing the loud altercation between her and the police officer.

The reluctant police officer stayed unshaken at the back seat of the vehicle, which forced the angry mob to eject him out of the car and stopped at beating him up following appeals by some of them.

The office, who at the time did not have his identification number pinned on his uniform, was seen frantically making calls to unknown persons as the enraged mob grew even bigger.

Our calls to Buru buru Sub County Police Commander (SCPC) Adamson Bungei over the Saturday incident went unanswered.

The National Police Service ACT of 2011 in section 61(2) states that a Police officer in uniform shall at all times affix a name tag or identifiable Service number in a clearly visible part of the uniform.