Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala and seven members of his staff were yesterday slapped with a bond of Sh14.2 million without the option of cash bail.
The eight were charged in a Kakamega court with several counts ranging from the robbery with violence, molestation, electoral violence and assault during the Matungu by-election on March 4.
Joel Wekesa Micha, a bodyguard attached to Malala, was charged separately over unlawful use of a firearm. He was accused of wounding Boniface Odunga at Munami village in Matungu using the firearm.
Violent robbery
Senior Principal Magistrate Dolphina Alego released Micha on a Sh200,000 bond with a surety of the same amount.
Malala, Ababu Shago (his bodyguard), Shakila Ambaye, Marvin Kombo, Joyce Kavere, Hakim Juma Ambani and Cecil Ambeyi were charged with five counts and pleaded not guilty to all of them.
The prosecution accused them of robbing the Munami Primary School polling station presiding officer Maureen Naliaka of a power bank valued at Sh8,000. The gadget belonged to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
They are also said to have assaulted and injured Naliaka, and attempting to compel her to favour the Amani National Congress candidate during the mini polls.
For the five charges, the eight were ordered to keep a bond of Sh500,000 each, totalling Sh4 million, and a surety of a similar amount.
On the third set of charges, the court slapped them with a bond of Sh2 million each totaling Sh10 million, with a surety of the same amount.
