Former National Assembly Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim opened up about an event in the '90s, which pitted ODM leader Raila Odinga against police officers during a demonstration.
Speaking on AM Live on NTV on Tuesday, January 14, Maalim, in an exhortation to Jubilee legislators complaining about being harassed by police, insisted that he and Odinga had been through that since time immemorial.
"As the first multi-party Parliament, we decided that we were going to have a prayer rally at Majengo before going to the All Saints Cathedral, but on the way there, at Wakulima, we were accosted by police officers who started clobbering us."
"They took Raila like a bag of maize and threw him into a landrover. When I looked around, I was alone and yet we had been so many MPs in the march. I approached one police officer blocking the road and ordered him out of my way," Maalim recalled.
Protesters were energized when they saw him walk alone on the road, and they emerged to express their support for their leaders as they marched towards the cathedral.
"When they saw me walk alone on that road, they came out from all sides. A short while later, I saw all our good friends, who had run off emerge. Most of them were wearing sports shoes meaning that they had been ready to run from the start, and that is a very bad sign," he stated.
He insisted that earlier, he had urged the MPs not to flee from police while championing for a political cause.
"I always used to call on my friends and MPs and tell them as politicians, we show that we are buckling under the power of a despotic regime every time when we take to our heels at the sight of teargas. Let's face the consequences but stay there," he narrated.
"The only leaders who used to be left behind were Raila, myself, and Muturi Kigano, and we used to be clobbered and teargassed of course.
Speaking in reference to the recent incident involving leaders from Mt. Kenya region pushing for the release of Gatundu South legislator Moses Kuria, he warned the politicians that their flight from police teargas was a very bad sign.
The leaders, including Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro and Kandara's Alice Wahome, were teargassed by police officers while addressing the media, forcing them to flee from the scene.
