Kilifi MCA to face manslaughter charges

A Member of County Assembly in Kilifi has been implicated in the death of a man in Mtwapa after chaos erupted during eviction from disputed land.

Kilifi county Criminal Investigation Officer, David Siele, said the MCA who is in custody will be charged with manslaughter.

Maurice Kakunde succumbed to injuries after chaos erupted during eviction from land claimed by the National Museums of Kenya (NMK).

"We arrested the suspect in connection to the death of Maurice Kakunde. He will be charged with manslaughter. It is said that the goons were led by the MCA,” claimed Mr Siele on Monday.

During the incident on March 29 in Mtwapa, goons allegedly accompanied by a section of local leaders and the MCA tried to demolish a perimeter wall on the land they claimed belonged to the Mtwapa Heritage Site.

A local investor has also laid claim to the land measuring an eighth an acre. 

On Tuesday, Kilifi MCAs disrupted the House business demanding the release of their colleague arrested in connection with Kakunde's death.

Ganze ward MCA Karisa Ngirani and his Mariakani ward counterpart Martha Koki said the MCA was arrested by police last Friday and efforts to have him released have been futile.

NMK Board Chairman Edwin Abonyo claimed that the land was a gazetted heritage site.

“We have decided to take action in conjunction with the county government of Kilifi and for someone to claim to have bought the land two years ago when it is a gazetted NMK site which was gazetted in 1935 and this wall must come down,” Dr Abonyo said, adding that her department will repossess grabbed land belonging to NMK.