A team of investigators camped the home of Rangwe Member of Parliament Lilian Gogo after a fire razed down her house.
The cause of the fire at Omoche Village, Gem East Ward in Rangwe Constituency on Friday night was not immediately established, police said. But preliminary findings show the work of arson, the police added, saying the motive was not clear.
Dr. Gogo said she had no information on the cause of the fire. She said the inferno occurred when she was in Kisumu for the burial arrangements of former Prime Minister, the late Raila Odinga.
“I was in Kisumu for the funeral arrangements of the late Honourable Raila Odinga. Then I got a shocking call that my house had been burnt,” Dr. Gogo said.
The MP called on security agencies to investigate the cause of the fire and take appropriate action based on the findings.
“I appeal to our security agencies to investigate the incident for an appropriate legal action to be taken over the incident,” she added.
Preliminary investigations reveal that the fire resulted from arson.
Rangwe Police Commander Magdaline Chebet said they had established that the inferno occurred during a power outage in the area.
This ruled out the suspicion that it might have resulted from an electric fault.
“We have established that the fire occurred when there was a blackout in the area,” Chebet said.
Another lead is that there was nobody in the homestead during the day before the incident, police said.
This ruled out the possibility of an accidental fire which results from domestic activities.
“There was no family member or worker at home when the inferno started,”Chebet said.
She said residents who wanted to intervene in extinguishing the fire found it difficult because the gate was locked.
“Residents who responded to the emergency could not enter the homestead because the gate was locked with a padlock.
They gathered and waited,” she added. She said police broke the gate and made attempts to put out the fire using water from a borehole. They managed to save just a few items from the kitchen.
The investigators picked up materials from the scene as part of the probe into the incident.
The police plan to question several persons of interest in the matter.
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