Nairobi News

Bunge La Wananchi president Calvince Okoth alias Gaucho was on May 31, 2023, released on a Sh 5,000 cash bail after he was once again arrested by police outside City Hall premises in Nairobi two days earlier.

At the time of his arrest, he had been engaging in a public discussion outside the City Hall premises among crowds that are often spotted there before plain cloth policemen came for him.

Hours after his release, Winnie Odinga, the youngest daughter of Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance leader, Raila Odinga, claimed that Gaucho’s constant arrest was because of police thirst for money.

She expressed these sentiments as responses to claims Azimio did nothing whenever Gaucho was arrested.

“Whenever Gaucho is arrested, Azimio TV’s work is just tweeting. Nothing happens after that. Azimio TV made billions under Raila Junior and Winnie Odinga. Why don’t they use the funds to secure his release and pay him? The hypocrisy, gluttony and idiocy in ODM is too much,” said KiambuTweep.

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In response, Winnie Odinga said, “How does a free online channel, with no Ads, that only shows political rallies 2-3 a week at best, make money let alone billions? I’m seriously asking because maybe there’s something I’m missing 🤔.”

In another response where she was accused by another Kenyan of letting Gaucho suffer financially following his arrests, Winnie Odinga said she had already sent money to him.

“Gaucho is arrested every week and now I have a #FreeGaucho fund on M-Pesa like a bill for tokens. Stop your propaganda,” added Winnie Odinga.

In response to claims that Gaucho was complaining of no arrests, Winnie added that it was because Gaucho was tired of constantly being harassed by the police.

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“This thing isn’t only about money. We are trying to find a permanent solution to his harassment by police. You can’t arrest someone every week! Hhao makarao wameanza biashara ya ku shika Gaucho kwasababu wanajua watu wata toa pesa akishikwa (Those police officers have began a business of arresting Gaucho every week because they know there are people who will raise the money for him after being arrested),” said Winnie Odinga.

Nairobi News previously reported that during his last arrest, Gaucho narrated of his harrowing experience in police custody and how Raila Odinga saved him. He claimed the police took him around Nairobi for hours and at one point, threatened to kill him.

“I told them that if that day was the day for me to die, I had accepted my fate but there was nothing I was going to confirm or deny beyond giving them my name and ID number,” said Gaucho after he was accused of being behind the torching of a matatu on Ngong Road during the last opposition demonstrations.

As the police harassed him for hefty sums of money to release him, Gaucho revealed that Raila Odinga ended up sending him money that eventually secured his release after his last arrest.

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