Custody escape: Kenyan MP held
2007-08-03 08:04
Nairobi - Kenya's health minister was arrested on Thursday for allegedly helping an activist escape police custody after being detained while trying to demonstrate against parliamentarians' plans to award themselves bonuses, said a lawyer.
Police summoned Health Minister Charity Ngilu on Thursday to give a statement about the incident on Tuesday, after one of five detained activists allegedly escaped custody, said Ngilu's lawyer Paul Muite.
Muiti called his client's arrest "nonsensical", noting that the minister had taken the activist away from an alleged police beating to a hospital for treatment, and that the hospital a day later released the activist back into police custody.
Police declined to give details of Ngilu's arrest, but a spokesperson said the charge was justified.
Charges against Ngulu 'unfounded'
Police spokesperson Eric Kiraithe said: "The law is not going to be compromised in this country. It does not matter your station in life."
Ngilu was the first cabinet minister arrested during President Mwai Kibaki's four years in office, though others had been accused of disobeying court orders or of being engaged in corruption. However, none apart from Ngilu had faced charges.
The lawyer said Ngilu's arrest "for assisting a prisoner escape", was unfounded. Muite said: "First of all she was taking the prisoner to hospital to be treated because the police had beaten her badly.
"And second, the police found her (the activist) in hospital, and Charity (Ngilu) said they can take her back to prison once she is treated."
The activists were detained while protesting MPs' plans to award themselves more than $85 000 each in bonuses, said Muite.
One of them, Ann Njogu, was taken to hospital for unspecified injuries on Tuesday, and released on Wednesday morning back into police custody.
Muite 'also an opposition MP'
On Thursday, a judge ordered all five activists released, saying police had detained them without charge beyond the 24-hour legal limit.
Muite said he left Ngilu on Thursday at the Criminal Investigations Department headquarters, and expected her to be taken to a police station to be held overnight.
Muite said: "One just sees a lot of politics" in this case. Muite was also an opposition MP. Ngilu was a member of the governing party, which was facing elections in December.
The five activists, after their release, held a news conference on Thursday dismissing earlier reports that Ngilu had stormed the police station and forcibly taken Njogu away.
Instead, they said, the minister rescued Njogu from a police beating.
Mwalimu Mati, a former head of Transparency International's Kenya chapter, said: "What she did I think was honourable and commendable. In the face of an impending violation or an impending felony ... if a minister is standing there, is she expected to watch?"
- AP