No court action on Sakaja – police boss
Nairobi regional police commander Philip Ndolo says consultations are underway on the action to be taken against Senator Johnson Sakaja who arrested drinking in a club past curfew hours.
“Sometimes people feel they are above [the law] and he should be the last person to contravene that directive. We will consult with others including, of course, he has his seniors in the Senate and the government,” Ndolo said.
“We don’t have to take everyone to court for any offence. Sometimes there are other considerations to be made so as not to give people unnecessary mileage. That is why for example we did not take any of the activists arrested during the saba saba day demonstrations to court.”
Ndolo has also dismissed as hot air threats by Senator Johnson Sakaja to transfer all officers involved in his arrest at a bar he was found drinking at 1am on Saturday.
Ndolo said the senator has no powers to transfer police officers.
Sakaja was found drinking at Ladies Lounge along Dennis Pritt Road in Nairobi in the company of 10 others.
They were seated outside the social joint and defied orders by police officers who directed them to leave.
Ndolo said Sakaja’s misconduct is an indication that there were people who still think they are above the law or live in their own world.
The police chief said Sakaja’s action of being out drinking at wee hours in contravention of curfew order issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta is a wrong example from a leader.
Sakaja is ironically the chairperson of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Covid-19 Situation in Kenya.
“He is setting a bad example. What if everyone else decided to get out and go drinking like he was doing in defiance of the [curfew] order, what would be the implication?” Ndolo posed.
The senator dared the officers to arrest him and on arrival at Kilimani police station, threatened to have the cops transferred within 24 hours.
Sakaja was offered to be released on a free bond but declined to leave the station and remained there for several hours.
He later tweeted denying the arrest and dared the police to produce an OB number.
President Kenyatta issued the 9pm-4am curfew order as a measure to decimate the spread of deadly viral disease.