I didn’t unleash youths on Barasa, I saved him from them, says Simba Arati

Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati with ODM leader Raila Odinga at a past function. The legislator has denied unleashing youths on his Jubilee colleagues during the Kibra by-election. [Standard]

Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati has denied unleashing Kibra youths on his Kimilili counterpart Didmus Barasa, saying he is the one who saved him from the mob after word went round that they were bribing voters.

A section of Jubilee leaders have accused Arati and other ODM legislators of using youths to harass their colleagues during the Kibra by-election.

They have urged Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i to take action against Arati and the politicians over the acts of violence that rocked Kibra on November 7.

"The government must arrest all those ODM leaders who used violence during the Kibra by-election if indeed we want to curb chaos during elections,” said Kericho Senator Aron Cheruiyot.

Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria also condemned the violence and urged the government to take action against those who used hired goons during the Kibra election.

I was not supporting McDonald Mariga, but the violence witnessed in Kibra was unacceptable. Politicians should not be allowed to use hired goons during elections,” he said.

False claims

Arati has, however, dismissed the leaders saying of late politicians allied to Tanga tanga have turned him into a punching bag whenever something happens to them.

“Sadly, I am being blamed yet I saved my brother from the wrath of the youths who had been told that Jubilee legislators were on the ground to buy voters,” said Arati.

“It is wrong for people and even you the media to report that I unleashed youths on Barasa. It is me who saved him.”

In a clip that went viral on social media, Arati was heard asking his colleague if he wanted run again as Barasa pleaded with him saying they were colleagues before youths descended on him.

However, Arati has maintained that when he asked his colleague if he wanted to run, he was referring to the morning incident where the MP was reportedly chased by youths over claims of voter bribery.

“Rumours were rife that Barasa and Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi had been chased in the morning so when I met him, I inquired if he still wanted to run,” Arati told Standard Digital on phone.

Arati said it is the women that had accompanied Barasa that landed him in trouble after they started exchanging with the youths.

“It is his women who started exchanging with the youths, in fact, were it not for me, the situation could have turned nastier,” he said.

He said he met many Jubilee legislators on the D-day and there was no fracas.

On claims that he took Barasa's red cap, the ODM legislator said he didnt take the cap neither did he see someone take it because he was busy protecting other leaders from the youths, but said if indeed the youths took the cap, they will soon trace it during rallies in Kibra.

“I hope we will find Didmus’s cap in one of the rallies very soon, but I didnt see anyone pick it, because I was shielding the female colleagues from the mob.”

Imran Okoth of ODM bagged the seat after garnering 24,636 votes to beat Mariga, who conceded defeat when the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) figures from 40 out of 183 polling stations showed he was trailing.