Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s motorcade was on Friday, March 10, blocked after it encountered a police barricade along the road leading to Kisumu State Lodge.
Raila was in the company of Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o, former Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni and National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi, headed to the home of former Member of Parliament Grace Onyango who had passed on recently.
However, his entourage was momentarily interrupted owing to the security operation mounted as a precautionary measure to protect State Houses and State Lodges in different towns across the country.
An infuriated Raila Odinga alighted from his car and engaged the police officers manning the barricade in a brief altercation. Governor Nyong'o and the security detail accompanying the leaders also joined in as they demanded the removal of the roadblocks.
After the brief exchange of words between him and the officers, the barricade was removed allowing him to proceed with his journey.
The Friday incident has since sparked outrage from a section of Kenyans who criticised the government for limiting freedom of movement and disrespecting the former Prime Minister.
In a statement shared on Friday, March 10, Suna East Member of Parliament Junet Mohamed called out the government for what he termed as an attempt to limit free movement as provided for in the constitution.
He noted that the move was a contravention of the law and, as such, demanded that all road barricades erected by the police along Kenyan roads be removed.
“Ruto must desist from barricading roads and highways across our country, especially roads he never built. All road barricades politically erected must be removed.
"Kenya was free before Ruto. It must remain so. We reject Ruto's attempt to curtail the free movement of Kenyans,” he noted.
This was the second time in a week that Odinga found himself on the wrong side of security operations after yet another encounter when he was blocked from accessing the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters along Kiambu Road.
The operation protecting all state lodges and the State House was launched on Wednesday, March 8, amid uncertainty over the direction Azimio la Umoja's mass action would take.
