Interior Principal Secretary, Karanja Kibicho, says the government will not waste time and resources arresting politicians who have been teasing it in order to get sympathy votes.
Speaking during a morning interview of Radio Citizen on Monday, March 28, Kibicho noted that National Police Service (NPS) will be focusing more on securing the election and maintaining peace during the electioneering period.
The PS noted that some aspirants were deliberately teasing the authorities so that they can be arrested, saying that the Ministry of Interior will not massage their egos.
He, however, warned politicians against spreading hate or inciting violence, adding that such cases will not be tolerated or forgiven.
"There are some politicians who are daring, so much that they would actually try to poke the government in the eye so that they are arrested to boost their popularity," Kibicho noted.
"We will not arrest you to give you sympathy votes. Keep breaking the law, we will catch up with you in September. The government never forgets."
The remarks by the Interior PS come at the backdrop of rising political temperatures, with the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) warning politicians against using words that border hate speech or that will cause division among Kwenyans.
At the same time, Kibicho denied claims that his office had a highly guarded room where taxpayers' money looted from public coffers to fund some politicians was being stored. He rubbished the allegations, explaining that the current law does not such things to happen.
"They are now claiming that I have money stashed in cartons in a room in my office. I want to invite them to my office to share these so-called funds. Where would I have gotten this money from?
"Money whose allocation had neither been accounted for in the national budget nor approved by Parliament or audited cannot be given to anyone or any Ministry. In fact, it does not exist. Gone are the days when there was no accountability for spending taxpayers' money," he noted.
He asked political aspirants to leave him and the Interior Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiang'i, out of their campaigns and instead focus on selling their agenda to the electorate.
The two have been on the receiving end of attacks from politicians opposed to the government and have been accused of being impartial in the execution of their mandates. Notably, on March 27, Matiang'i asked state officers to not take sides in delivering their duties to Kenyans.
