Dickens Wasonga @PeopleDailyKe
Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala has threatened to sue Interior Cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i and the Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai over wrongful arrest and detention.
Speaking after his release on Sunday night, Malala claimed he had been tortured, denied food and medication and that his family and friends could not access him.
He criticised the manner in which he was arrested saying he was harassed and assaulted by police officers before being locked up in cells he described as dehumanising.
“I became unconscious and it was my bodyguard who came to my rescue after he was allowed into the window-less cell I was being held in,” said the senator.
Malala added that police only started treating him with dignity after Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o and Siaya Senator James Orengo intervened.
Orengo and his counterparts Moses Kajwang’ (Homa Bay), Ochillo Ayacko (Migori) and MP Elisha Odhiambo (Gem) visited Malala on Saturday and accused the police of harassing their colleague on political grounds.
On Sunday night, Malala said his doctor will write a medical report which he plans to use to sue Matiang’i and Mutyambai, adding that his arrest was illegal.
He did not specify when he was likely to sue them but noted that he will soon be advised by his legal team. “I was not told why I was arrested. It was an act of intimidation,” he said.
Malala accused Matiang’i of using the police to harass him. Also released alongside Malala was former Sports Cabinet secretary Rashid Echesa.
Nandi Hills police boss David Nyabuto, however, said shortly after the release, Echesa was asked to report to the Kakamega Directorate of Criminal Investigations for further interrogation. The two had been arrested in connection with the killings of 20 people in Matungu constituency.
