Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Members of County Assembly claimed that they were targeted by police officers posing as newspaper vendors in Nairobi.
In a joint statement, the Azimio la Umoja Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) on Saturday, July 22, revealed that new tactics which officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are using, which include kidnapping and disguising themselves as ordinary Kenyans and then pouncing on opposition politicians.
The MCAs revealed that the State had launched a manhunt for all Azimio-affiliated leaders, stating that at least five Members of the Nairobi County Assembly had been arrested and taken to undisclosed locations.
"Nairobi City County MCAs aligned to the Azimio have been the biggest victims of the hunt by security-forces-turned-thugs who now roam the streets of Nairobi posing as journalists, newspaper vendors, photographers, or hawkers just so that they can kidnap and torture MCAs whose only crime is that they got elected through the Azimio constituent parties," the statement read in part.
In the statement that was released by Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai, the leaders claimed that some of the leaders were on their way to their offices when they were stopped by the officers and abducted in broad daylight.
It was also reported that some MCAs were questioned about their political engagements before forcefully being driven away in unmarked Subaru cars.
"In the last 72 hours, we have witnessed the street kidnap of MCAs Wilfred Odalo (Mabatini), Redson Onyango (Ngei), Peter Imwatok (Makongeni), Peter Owera (Huruma), Alvin Palapala (Kitusuru) among others.
"The street abductions targeting members of Nairobi City County Assembly also netted innocent bystanders like Eric Otieno (Fiscal Analyst), Anthony Otsyula (Budget Office) and Victor Obel whose only crime is that their names sound like they are MCAs from the assembly while, these are just professionals in the county assembly and without any interest in party politics," the statement by MCAs read.
The MCAs claimed that the crackdown has been concentrated in slums and other low-income areas of the county where low-income earners live and work.
Azimio la Umoja MCAs warned that the current crackdown across the county and the entire nation poses a very serious threat to the very fabric of the Kenyan nation.
"Which crime is this called walking while elected through Azimio? Which law in the penal code outlaws this? Which article of the constitution makes it illegal to ply your trade in the city while still being a member of the Azimio coalition?
"Do you really think that in your wildest of wild dreams, we can be cowed to run away from out coalition? Do you honestly think you can achieve that with us? Maybe with MPs but not MCAs," the MCAs questioned.
They also stressed that they are unlikely to be intimidated since they have been targeted before.
"The brutality being meted out in places like Kibra, Kawangware, Kangemi, Huruma, Mathare, Dandora in Nairobi and Kondele and Nyalenda in Kisumu is, therefore, a cruel betrayal of hustlers," the MCAs stated.
