NASA co-principal Moses Wetang’ula has condemned the brutal attack on Joseph Kubende, terming it “cowardly, primitive, barbaric and a relic of Kenya’s sad past that should not be tolerated”.
The artiste and author was attacked
on Friday night by a gang of five in Satellite, a suburb in Webuye town, Bungoma.
It is said he was driving home at about 9pm when men in a Probox car overtook and blocked his Prado.
Five people then got out of the Probox, broke his car's windscreen and dragged him out.
Witnesses said they tried to force him into their car.
Wetang'ula, who is Bungoma Senator and Ford Kenya leader, said the man's only mistake was "deploying art to mock at the runaway corruption in Bungoma".
“We condemn in the strongest terms possible an attempt on his
life..." he said.
“In the present day and age, we cannot, for a second, entertain the culture of seeking to silence our critics, especially not in the manner in which Kubende was attacked."
He demanded that authorities speedily "bring to book the cowards behind this savage attack and their paymasters".
Speaking from
his hospital bed at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kubende said he resisted getting into the Probox because he knew that would be the end of his life.
“It was while I resisted that I was hit with a metal bar on the right hand, which fractured,” he said.
Kubende escaped and ran towards his car but
was grabbed from the back by one of the men who twisted his neck and threw him to the ground.
The artiste said that while lying on the ground, face down, he heard one of the men saying: "Tummalize hapa (Let's finish the job here)."
Two people, one wearing heavy boots, then attacked and kicked him on the head.
A third man was called to ‘finish the job'. He hit Kubende with the metal bar, kicked him repeatedly and then said: "Let's see whether he will continue singing from hell."
The gang then drove off.
Kubende recently started singing songs on corruption in Bungoma, whose Governor is Kenneth Lusaka.
He brought back to light scandals that had been forgotten, including the purchase of 10 special wheelbarrows at a cost of Sh109,000 each.
Threats started coming his way in February when he first stepped on a political podium and sang about everything that had gone wrong in the county. He filed reports on the threats in Bungoma and Nairobi.
Days before this attack,
unknown assailants in unmarked cars had trailed him. He reported this to police and also informed friends and family.
The attack came as he mourned his brother.