Police in Kisii on Sunday arrested six people, among them former ODM county chairman Samuel Omwando, for plotting to cause chaos during Mashujaa Day celebrations at Gusii Stadium.
Omwando had defected to Deputy President William Ruto's Tangatanga movement. Also arrested were Bobaracho MCA Ibrahim Ongubo and four bloggers.
A team of detectives picked Omwando from his house at Nyanchwa at 5pm. Ongubo was picked by DCI officers at the Agriculture Training Centre in Kisii as he headed for a leaders' meeting. The bloggers were arrested from restaurants in Kisii town.
Their families told journalists the arrests were a move by the state to intimidate innocent citizens.
County commander Jebel Munene said they would prefer incitement to violence charges against them.
"We received credible intelligence that they were at an advanced stage of plotting to cause disruption during the event," Munene said.
Munene also confirmed the arrest of a notorious vigilante member.
The Mashujaa Day fête will be presided over by President Uhuru Kenyatta. The head of state is expected to launch state-funded projects after the function.
Earlier on Sunday, Omwando, in a radio interview, said some political forces in the county and national governments were fighting him.
"It should not be that when you join a different political ideology you get harassed all over," he said.
Outside Kisii Central police station, their family members lamented the arrests, saying they were politically instigated.
Meshack Oyondi, Omwando's son, said charges were being fabricated because his father ditched ODM for Tangatanga.
"This appears to have set him on a collision course with some senior figures in government," Oyondi said.
His brother, Calvin Machoka, said they had not been told the reasons for their father's arrest. "No officer is willing to tell [us] even the charges they would prefer against him. All we know as a family is that he is innocent," he said.
Machoka rubbished claims that members of the Tangatanga wing were plotting to disrupt a state function.
"Who on earth can care to cause chaos at such a function, which has in its disposal all state machinery to deal with any crook? This is just someone out to square it off with him," he added.
