Mr. Martin Ngatia, the Vice Chairperson of ODM-Scandinavia, has said that the recent attack by hired thugs of three ODM politicians, Mr. William Ruto, Mr. Omingo Magara and Mr. Chris Bichage, was an ugly act of political thuggery which must be condemned strongly because such acts are meant to roll back the democratic gains of more than four decades of struggle.
“Political thyggery is not new in Kenya but it belongs to a bygone era of former dictator Daniel arap Moi”, Mr. Ngatia told KSB. The attack took place in at a function in Southern Kissi.
Mr. Ngatia said that the government should arrest Mr. Simion Nyachae, a pro-Kibaki old guard, who has been identified as having sponsored the thugs who attacked the politicians.
The ODM politicians suffered cuts and bruises and had to be taken to Nairobi hospital for treatment. They were brutally attacked by thugs armed with bows, arrows and clubs, an attack that has drawn condemnation across the country.
Mr. Ngatia said that the attack was meant to intimidate members of ODM and pointed out that such outmoded tactics of scaring the opponent with violence had no place in today’s Kenya. He said that he was confident that ODM would defeat President Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity in the coming December polls.
Okoth Osewe
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