Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya has claimed that he was mistreated by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) officers who arrested him a week ago over claims of corruption.
Speaking on Monday during a tour in the Western Kenyan region, the governor narrated the harrowing experience he went through at the hands of the officers who raided his Nairobi and Kitale homes after he was accused of corruption.
According to Natembeya, he had travelled to Nairobi for a governor's meeting on the NG-CDF funds. Unfortunately, the Council of Governors postponed the meeting to a later day.
He decided to rest in one of his Nairobi houses before travelling back to the county. An emotional Natembeya revealed that he was sleeping early in the morning when he heard a doorbell.
He woke up, and when he checked through the window, a dozen men were waiting for him. Upon inquiring, the men explained that they were officers from EACC and had a warrant to search his house.
What followed was a dramatic early-morning operation that would mark a turning point in the high-stakes corruption probe surrounding the governor.
Natembeya said the officers belittled and intimidated him, particularly singling out one official for harassment.
The officers stormed into the governor's house, moving swiftly from room to room, combing through his belongings in an aggressive search. The governor, caught off guard, maintained he did not know what they were looking for. They didn't take anything. They later arrested him.
"The officers instructed an AP police officer to handcuff me, but I firmly refused, demanding to see the warrant of arrest. Instead of complying, one of the officers forcefully lifted me, carried me to their vehicle, and sped off to the EACC headquarters," the governor recounted.
According to the former Rift Valley Regional Commissioner, the officers held him for more than three hours incommunicado, and he could not even access his lawyers.
“These EACC people treat people so badly and handle you as a guilty person even before you are charged. My wife cried when my home was raided and ransacked in a bad way. I have never had audit queries during the time I have worked in government,” the governor said.
“At around 7 pm, an OCS at Integrity Centre came and told me that he had come to do a caution and charge. That is when I knew I had been locked up," Natembeya told a multitude who had turned out for the welcoming in Kitale.
EACC revealed that Natembeya's arrest was part of procurement irregularities, abuse of office, bribery, and fraudulent acquisition of public funds linked to the Trans Nzoia County Government. Natembeya was later taken to court and freed on bail of Ksh500,000.
