Nyali MP Hezron Awiti’s billboard at Buxton was on Friday destroyed by more than seven thugs, armed with machetes and other crude weapons.
The youths riding on a white Probox – registration number KCL 613X – tied a rope to the metallic structure and pulled it down.
Some of the thugs took cover at strategic points as others diverted traffic away from the scene.
This happened at 12am, two hours after welders and masons who were working on the billboard, had left the area.
Police manning the Nyali Bridge roadblock watched from a 10-metre distance as the structure tumbled.
Awiti has questioned why the officers failed to arrest the suspects saying they might have been compromised.
Following the event, the legislator said his life is in danger and requested for more security from the state.
“When we arrived, the group quickly boarded their vehicle and fled towards Tamarind side. They made an about turn and started chasing us.”
“We took the Nyali police station route before they diverted,” Timothy Odhiambo, a member of the aspirant’s security detail, told reporters.
He said other youths spotted at the scene of crime escaped on foot.
Eyewitness Tony Mulei said the youths took a photo of the damaged billboard after pulling it down.
County commissioner Evans Achoki and his deputy Mahmoud Maalim have been informed of the incident reported under OB No. 03/7/17 at Makupa police station.
“Were the police manning Nyali Bridge roadblock offering the thugs security? Am I not allowed to set up a campaign billboard in Mombasa?” Awiti asked.
He said most of his campaign posters are removed immediately they are patched on various locations in the county.
“The police have told me they are investigating the matter. This is the same statement they always issue whenever I make a report.”
During the campaigns for the 2013 general election, Awiti was accosted and his car sprayed with bullets by unknown assailants.
“That time, I reported the attack and police told me they will investigate. Four years later, are they still investigating?” he asked.
Achoki said the act amounted to malicious damage to property adding that the probe seeks to unearth the circumstance under which the billboard was destroyed.
“Anyone who is going to be found culpable will be taken to court. This will not be condoned,” he said.
Mombasa IEBC returning officer Nancy Kariuki said the MP is yet to officially register a complaint with the electoral agency.
She said once this is done, they will investigate and act as stipulated in the Code of Conduct governors signed after being cleared.
Nancy said if the theatrics persist, she will convene a meeting with all governor candidates.
“I will remind them of the Code of Conduct they signed and its consequences,” she told the Star on telephone.
Candidates found guilty of breach of the code can either be fined or disqualified from the race.
This was the second time Awiti’s billboard is pulled down the first being the one which county inspectorate officers destroyed.
The governor, Ali Hassan Joho was sued for erecting a billboard without the county’s approval but the case was thrown out for lack of merit.
Sources: Star
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