• Jubilee MPs who visited Echesa say he is being victimised for DP support.
•Eighteen people have been killed in Matungu, Kakamega.
Image: MAURICE ALAL
Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa, Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala and others arrested on Friday over suspicion of fanning the killings in Matungu will be charged on Monday.
Echesa is being held at the Nandi Hills Police Station while Malala spent the weekend in police cells in Kisumu.
Three Jubilee politicians from Nandi county have claimed Echesa is being targeted for supporting Deputy President William Ruto.
They are Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, politician Paul Biego and Nandi Hills MCA Gideon Koech.
They spoke after visiting Echesa at Nandi Hills police station on Sunday.
“We knew from the onset, Echesa was going to be followed and victimised for his tough support for Jubilee and DP William Ruto,” Cherargei said.
Echesa was taken to the station on Friday night by detectives from Kakamega and was briefly held in Kapsabet before being moved to Nandi Hills police station.
“He was taken to the station on security grounds because it was obvious if the public got wind of him being held in Kapsabet, they would storm in and cause unnecessary tension,” a senior police officer said.
The former CS is expected to be relocated either back to Kakamega or Eldoret to take a plea over the Matungu killings.
A total of 18 people have been killed in Matungu, Kakamega, in the last month.
Interior CS Fred Matiang'i launched a security operation in the area on Thursday last week.
On Saturday, Matungu MP Justus Murunga surrendered to police for interrogation over the killings in his constituency.
Police in Kakamega had on Friday given Murunga six hours to report to a police station and record a statement, failure to which police would consider him a key suspect in the killings.
The MP turned himself in at the Kakamega central police station.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)