Kirinyaga assembly majority leader James Kamau Murango, who was arrested on Monday evening, has said he is being targeted because of his political inclination.
He is vying for the Kirinyaga Senate seat on the UDA ticket.
Murango said his arrest was an attempt to disrupt his campaigns against Azimio la Umoja candidates in Kirinyaga.
After his arrest in Kirinyaga on Monday evening, Murango was taken to Mombasa to face several charges of corruption and forgery allegedly committed during a tendering process at the Port of Mombasa in 2020.
“I’m being targeted because of my political inclination. It is very sad that I was arrested in Kirinyaga, but I was brought all the way to Mombasa despite the fact that we have courts in Kerugoya and Nairobi,” he said.
Murango spoke outside the Mombasa law courts after he was released.
“They want to disrupt us in order to give the Jubilee candidate an advantage to campaign in my absence. Kirinyaga people have already decided who their next leader will be and the arrest is an exercise in futility,” he said.
Court documents showed Murango was being charged with forgery, uttering false documents, fraudulence in procurement proceedings and acquisition of public property in a corrupt manner.
He was charged alongside Lilian Kemunto, who was not in court.
The two are directors of Ports and Harbours Support Services, which had bid to supply crane spare parts to Mombasa port in 2020.
Court documents showed that on March 15 and 18, 2020, the duo forged documents and unreferenced the Local Agent Appointment letter, purporting to be issued by Manitowoc Crane Group-the sole manufacturer of Grove Crane spare parts.
The two got the tender and supplied KPA, purporting to be local agents of Manitowoc Crane Group.
Between June 16, 2021, and February 2022, they received $76,347.35 (about Sh8 million) as payment for contract supply for the spare parts in a tender that was fraudulently acquired, the court was told.
Murango denied all the charges before Mombasa principal magistrate Martin Rabera.
He was released on Sh1 million bond or an alternative of Sh100,000 bail.
Murango and his co-accused are expected to appear in court on May 31.
During the court session, Danstan Omari, Murango’s lead counsel, said the charges against his client were politically-instigated.
“There is no evidence that the accused forged the document and we suggest that he is granted a Sh50,000 cash bail to allow him to continue fighting for the democratic right of campaigning under UDA,” Omari said.
“It is alleged that he [Murango] had incited the Kirinyaga people to boo and reject the Azimio La Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua today [Tuesday] during her homecoming.”
On Tuesday morning, Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru, through her official social media pages, said Murango’s arrest was a political witch-hunt.
“I strongly condemn last evening's arbitrary arrests of UDA aspirants, officials and supporters perpetrated by the state in a futile attempt to make them support Azimio,” Waiguru said.
She demanded the immediate release of Murango, UDA coordinator Gichangi Bosco and all UDA supporters who were in custody.
“No amount of intimidation or blackmail will change the fact that Kirinyaga is for UDA. Even Martha's (Karua) entry can't and will not make Azimio's entry in Kirinyaga any easier,” she said.
Edited by A.N
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