Rashid Echesa the trouble maker?
Mr. Trouble appears to have former Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa as a long-term friend.
Many a time, the controversial politician has brushed shoulders with the law, leading him to spend cold nights behinds bars.
Here are five times this has happened.
1. Brawl over a woman – A day after President Uhuru Kenyatta lifted the dawn to dusk curfew and Health CS Mutahi Kagwe extended the operating hours of nightclubs, a police report on October 2021 fingers Echesa as among the people who fought with the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) at Jose Lounge and Grill in Mumias, Kakamega County over – wait for this – a woman.
The fight started when one of the people the former Cabinet Secretary was having a drink with touched a woman who was in the company of the OCS inappropriately.
2. Slapped an Electoral Official – In March 2021, Echesa was caught on video assaulting an election official during voting at the by-election in Matungu Constituency, Kakamega County.
In the video, a visibly angry Echesa is seen lecturing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) official accusing him of chasing one of their agents out of the Bulonga polling station.
3. Arrested after leaving the Deputy President’s office – Echesa claimed to have an appointment with Deputy President William Ruto when he visited his CBD office with two men in February 2020. He was arrested immediately after leaving the DP’s Harambee Annex office and slapped with charges in relation to a Sh39.5 billion fake arms procurement deal involving the two men.
4. Accused of stealing a woman’s car – The politician’s home in Karen, Nairobi, was in March 2020 raided by authorities. He was later picked up for questioning over claims he had defrauded a widow of her spouse’s vehicle. The woman, a mother of four, accused Echesa of taking her late husband’s three luxury cars worth Sh12 million, his gun, and preying on her first-born daughter.
5. Pakistani dancers’ work permit saga – Echesa was accused of furnishing work permits to eight Pakistani ladies who were flown into the country as cultural dancers. He denied the claims.