Nairobi — Youthful Azimio La Umoja lawmakers now want Friday arrests to be outlawed unless under exceptional circumstances where police bail will be available in such scenarios.
In a memorandum presented to the National Dialogue Committee, the MPs who have been victims of weekend arrest led by Anthony Oluoch (Mathare) and Babu Owino (Embakasi East) said it should be outlawed as it enhances weaponization of the criminal justice system.
The Mathare MP decried that the weekend arrests have been used by regimes to frustrate leaders castigating the government agenda.
"We want to find a way of raising the criminal justice system above the government of the day which want to criminalize and weaponize," said Oluoch.
"If an arrest is made on Friday, this dialogue committee must find a way of opening the courts until midnight with the registry open so that one can process bail," he added.
MPs who include Jared Okello (Nyando),Irene Mayaka (Nominated) and Mark Mwenje (Embakasi West) now claim that the practice that has seen a number of them spend long weekends behind bars is meant to harass and intimidate innocent Kenyans as they wait to be presented in court.
The legislators are seeking a civil way to make an arrest for an MP suggesting for the arrest to be made through the office of the Speaker.
The Speaker will then issue a notice to the member to attend summons at the police station and if not honored an arrest may be made.
"MPs should not be arrested like a common thug or murderer.There is need to be a system in which the house of Parliament is respected so that you are able to present yourself,"Oluoch said.
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The youthful MPs are pushing for an audit of all cases relating to MPs and Azimio supporters in court to be dropped in cases where they were unlawfully arrested adding those who suffered death and injuries should be compensated.
"Because dialogue arose from the demonstration and the arrest of Kenyans. We must ask them to take an audit of all cases in the court and police stations. They must be withdrawn unconditionally," stated Oluoch.
MP Oluoch lamented that Friday's arrests especially for lawmakers have violated the arrest rule which includes the right to an advocate and emergency medical assistance when required.
The Opposition lawmaker who was arrested in July, during the anti-government protests said the MPs exposed to the pre-existing medical conditions were denied access to medical conditions.
This is despite the provision of Article 43 which calls for rights to emergency medical assistance.
"I was arrested on Ngong road and for 19 hours, I was held incommunicado and during that time I was denied medicine, food and opportunity to be visited by my family," Oluoch noted.
They claimed the arrests of high-profile persons on Fridays are in effect taking the country back to the Nyayo-era dark days where suspects were held in police custody without justification.
On March 9, 2020, Justice George Odunga observed that arresting citizens on Fridays in a bid to avoid producing them in court within the 24 hours spelled out in the law, amounts to an abuse of power.
According to the judge, if a suspect is a senator, for instance, there is no way that suspect will leave the country because they have an interest in matters of governance.
