Police in Kaloleni have denied claims that the recent crackdown on members of the Mombasa Republican Council was politically instigated.
Kaloleni subcounty police commander Kennedy Osando on Saturday said the raids were informed by intelligence reports, adding that they arrested some MRC members.
Speaking at Mariakani police station, Osando urged residents to desist from politicising security matters.
“We received intelligence reports that there were youths from different counties within the Coastal region who were planning to meet in Jibana. We arrested some," he said.
Osando said some are from Mtwapa, Kilifi, and others are from Kwale.
"It is true MRC is resurging and Jibana has been identified as the area where MRC is active. Let politicians leave security matters to us,” he said.
Osando said they are still working on intelligence reports and the crackdown will continue until the group starts operating within the law.
He also denied claims that police are harassing Kaya elders performing rituals in Kaya forests.
“We respect cultures, and we have been working well with Kaya elders. We, however, take action on elders who carry out criminal activities. If you administer an oath to a group of people so they can attack a certain place, that's criminal," Osando said.
He said last week they got information that some elders were meeting at a drinking den in Jibana and when they reached there, some fled, but they managed to arrest some. They recovered MRC identity cards.
Kaloleni MP Paul Katana distanced himself from allegations that he influenced the arrest of a Kaloleni politician last week.
He said he has no control of the police.
“I feature nowhere in the chain of command of the police force. I'm not privy to what they are investigating or whom they want to question because they do not report to me. Let us try to separate the duties of the police and those of the MP,” Katana said.
The legislator urged police to stop harassing members of the Jibana community.
“Blanket condemnation of the area won’t do us any good. If there are bad elements in Jibana, let's deal with them as criminals but not as a community. We have people in Jibana who do not know what MRC is,” he said.
Osando urged boda boda operators to obey the law and stop being used to ferry criminals.
“We arrested several boda boda operators because they were violating traffic rules. Some are being used to ferry criminals,” he said.
