Mandago turns heat on DCI after second grilling over militia training
Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago accused the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) of harassment and intimidation after being summoned over claims of training a militia to cause violence ahead of the August 9 General Election.
A disgruntled Mandago left the Regional Criminal Investigations office in Nakuru, after being grilled for close to six hours stating that his summons was baseless and a clear target of United Democratic Alliance party members.
It is alleged that an intelligence report revealed that the governor was actively sponsoring, arming, and training a group of militia at the Agricultural Training Centre (ATC) in Eldoret, a claim he has denied.
“Our competitors are feeding the DCI with wrong information about a militia and we are not part of any of that, ATC is an agricultural centre and in no way it is being used for training militia,” said Mandago.
He termed the report as baseless and unsubstantiated insisting that the same was politically instigated to target members of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
“This is the second time I am being summoned here, the DCI should stop harassing the members of the Kenya Kwanza team, I have been here for the larger part of the day, to block me from campaigning against State-sponsored candidates,” said Mandago.
Mandago was summoned alongside Uasin Gishu County Assembly Speaker David Kiplagat and Cheptiret-Kipchamo ward MCA Gilbert Tenai to record a statement over the claims.
Detectives from the regional headquarters led by Rift Valley Regional Criminal Investigation Officer (RCIO) Mwenda Meme grilled the trio.
He fingered out gubernatorial candidate Zedekiah Bundotich Kiprop and some county elders for saying he was training a militia group using county resources.
