On Monday, March 20, 2023, the Azimio La Umoja team led by Raila Odinga organized and began the countrywide mass demonstrations in demand for government to lower the skyrocketing of living standards and questioned the practice of IEBC on the August elections, among other things, which resulted in the arrest of Azimio loyalists after they were accused of causing chaos and violence during the protests.
Calvin Gaucho, Nuru Okanga, and Charles Ooko who are members of Bunge La Mwanachi were arrested on Friday night by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) after they released images of suspects who were causing and disrupting the demonstrations to the point of stealing and looting property.
They appeared before Senior Magistrate M.A. Opondo on Tuesday, March 28, during a court proceeding in Kiambu, where he released them on Ksh 1,000 cash bail each, declaring that there was no justification for the police to hold them any longer after they asked the court to permit them to be held for an additional 10 days while they continue their investigation.
“According to the State’s application here, “The Respondents shall each be released on a cash bail of Ksh. 1,000/- (Kenyan shillings one thousand) with regard to all the charges the state intends to bring against each of them. Taking into account the preceding concepts. I conclude that there are no compelling reasons to continue detaining the Respondents before charging them, as asked by the Applicants. The state’s concerns in this Application can be addressed without granting the extreme steps requested to detain the Respondents for another ten (10) days before charging them,” Said Opondo.
He added that if the suspects are to be arrested and charged by the police in any of the charges which was labelled against them, then they should be taken to court to take a plea.
“Police officers are not allowed to hold or arrest the respondents. If it is decided to prosecute them, they will be given a summons to appear in court and enter a plea,” he added.
