Moment Governor Rasanga refused to be frisked at Obama event – PHOTOS
By AGGREY MUTAMBOSiaya and Kisumu county governors on Monday depicted contrasting scenarios to security as former President Barack Obama toured K’Ogelo.
While Prof Anyang Nyong’o of Kisumu bowed to demands and accepted to be searched at the gate of Sauti Kuu Resource Centre, Mr Cornel Rasanga refused threatening to return home if they insisted on what he saw as public humiliation.
SECRET SERVICE
Prof Nyong’o, wearing his grey Kaunda suit, was searched together with his deputy Mathews Owili.
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But Rasanga argued with security details he was the governor of Siaya and hence the host who should be exempted from the search.
Junior security guards from KK Security company, unable to handle the impasse passed the buck to a Secret Service agent stationed at the gate.
The agent then asked local security officers to confirm if in deed Mr Rasanga was the governor. Once they did, he was allowed in together with his deputy James Okumbe.
But his bodyguard had to be searched after he also tried to push his way through with a firearm.
The incidents, isolated and separate, punctuated the tight security as Obama arrived in a village where his father was born.
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CROWDS
He was due to launch the Sauti Kuu Resource Centre, an initiative by his half-sister Auma Obama.
Wearing grey trousers, dark sunglasses and a white shirt with folded sleeves, Mr Obama arrived in the village in a convoy of security and diplomatic cars from Kisumu International Airport, at around 8.30am and headed straight the home of his grandmother Sarah Obama.
A crowd that had surged on the road side was prevented from pushing forward to the road as the cars wheeled by into the Resource Centre.
They were only prevented by the elite security squad on the ground.
Only invited guests and accredited media were allowed access.