MP Didmus Barasa vanishes after branding CDF car with UDA colours
Police have launched a manhunt for Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa after he branded a Constituency Development Fund (CDF) vehicle with campaign posters.
The first-term lawmaker has branded the vehicle in United Democratic Alliance (UDA) colours, his photos and those of Deputy President William Ruto.
He also removed the GK registration plates and affixed the registration number KBS 709D.
Kimilili sub-county police boss senior superintendent of police Mwita Maroa said that the vehicle, whose original registration number was GK948J, was impounded at the MP’s homestead in Nasianda village on Tuesday morning.
“We did this in a joint operation involving officers from the government vehicles check unit officers from Nairobi, Serious Crimes Unit and Directorate of Criminal Investigations from Nairobi and Kimilili,” he said.
The team stormed the MP’s homestead following extensive investigations and towed the vehicle to Kimilili police station and later to Bungoma before, taking it to Nairobi.
Mr Maroa said police acted on a tip-off from members of the public who raised complaints after spotting the vehicle at the MP’s campaign rallies across the county.
“We took the initiative to go to the CDF offices but did not find it there, so we proceeded to his home where we found it,” he said.
He said that the MP was not at home when they arrived, and his workers had denied the officers access to the home.
“We employed Section 26 of the Criminal Procedures Code that allows us to access anywhere, got into the house and confirmed that indeed it was a CDF vehicle,” he said.
He said it was against the law for anyone to use government vehicles for personal matters and campaigns.
Mr Maroa said the MP who is in a hideout is now being sought to face charges of forgery and theft of a government vehicle, among other offences.
He said according to preliminary reports, the number plate on the vehicle belongs to a vehicle registered in the MP’s brother’s name.
Bungoma County Criminal Investigations boss said sleuths had contacted the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) in Nairobi to confirm if the vehicle was registered under the MP.
But speaking to Nation, the MP said that he would not comment on the matter, claiming that he was being fought politically by his competitors who had sensed defeat.
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