Embakasi East Member of Parliament Paul Ongili, alias Babu Owino, is very sick and emaciated, lawyer Ndegwa Njiru has claimed.
The MP has been in the hands of the state authorities since he was arrested and detained at Wang'uru Police Station in Mwea, Kirinyaga County, after he was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Tuesday.
"So the DCI (Directorate of Criminal Investigation) wearing NINJA masks has staged a vigil at Milimani Law Courts, ready to re-arrest Hon. Babu Owino. Babu is now very sick, weak, and emaciated. Kenyans of goodwill put him in your prayers," Njiru, who is among the lawyers representing the MP, said in a statement.
Yesterday, Babu Owino's wife, Fridah Muthoni, said she had been denied access to the MP when she brought food for him at the Wang'uru Police Station.
"I was begging them that all I wanted was to give my husband food and some medicine because he was not feeling well on Monday. They refused me entry; in fact, they carried me out of the gate. There were many police officers present, and I was able to ascertain that indeed my husband was at Wang'uru police station in Mwea," Muthoni said then.
There have been claims that the police have starved Babu Owino since they arrested him.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, July 20, the lawyer said the country had slid into the KANU era. He made this claim while awaiting Babu to be brought to be arraigned at Milimani Courts.
"We are back to the old KANU days when Prosecutor Chunga would present KANU dissidents at 6 p.m. As I tweet this, we are still held up at the Milimani Courts awaiting the production of Babu Owino and Maina Njenga before the court. No decision has been made yet to charge them," Njiru's earlier statement said.
The lawmaker was charged and later on Friday released on a Ksh200,000 bond or an alternative Ksh100,000 cash bail. Chief Magistrate Lukas Onyina maintained that there were no compelling reasons to deny him bail.
