Lawyers representing former Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala said they were unable to trace him after his arrest on Wednesday evening as he sought to meet a group of students staging a controversial play in Nakuru.
One of the lawyers, however, claimed he had information that Malala was being held at a police station in
Eldama Ravine.
Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru said Malala was taken to Nakuru Central police station before he was moved to Eldama Ravine.
Efforts were being made to free him.
There was a heavy presence of police at the Melvin Jones Academy in Nakuru, with only students and officials being allowed in.
Officials said this
is where Butere Girls are set to stage the controversial play Echoes of War.
Journalists were denied entry into the venue on Thursday, April 10. Security officials said they were under instructions to allow only officials and students to the venue.
Malala was arrested and driven away from a school where he intended to address the students in the now controversial play in Nakuru.
A school play titled “Echoes of War” by Butere Girls High School in Kakamega County sparked a dramatic standoff in Rongai, Nakuru County.
This came on the eve of its scheduled performance at the Kenya National Drama Festivals.
On Wednesday evening, police surrounded a vehicle belonging to Malala, the play’s writer, in an apparent attempt to prevent him from accessing Kirobon Girls High School.
He was later bundled into a police car and driven away. This followed a storm at the entrance pitting police and the former senator.
Malala had reportedly intended to oversee final rehearsals for the play, which is scheduled to be performed Thursday morning at the ongoing 63rd edition of the Kenya National Drama Festivals.
Malala has a background in theatre and school drama.
However, Echoes of War has courted controversy due to its alleged criticism of the government.
The play was disqualified during the Western Region Drama Festivals under unclear circumstances.
A subsequent High Court ruling overturned that decision, reinstating the play and ordering its inclusion in the national lineup.
Following the court order, students who had
already left for the April holidays were recalled to resume rehearsals.
At 9 pm on Wednesday, police lobbed teargas canisters to disperse journalists who had camped outside the school to cover the standoff.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua criticized the move to manhandle Malala. He said the use of the criminal justice system to suppress creativity and social audit has reached alarming proportions.
“It is a shame of unimaginable proportion that dozens of DCI detectives in five vehicles have been dispatched to arrest and intimidate Senator Cleophas Malala for writing a script that has won its way to the National Drama festival in Nakuru.”
“The satirical play - Echoes of War - that strongly captures the lying culture of this administration, is innocent in itself in the literary universe, just to explain to those who feel threatened,” he said in a post on his social media accounts on Wednesday.
