Former Interior Cabinet Secretary for security Fred Matiang'i has been given anticipatory bail by the High Court, preventing police from holding and arresting him.
Dr Matiang'i requested the orders in court on Thursday morning, alleging that he is facing an impending police arrest and is rightfully concerned about a violation of his constitutional rights. Justice Kanyi Kimondo granted the request.
The court stated that although the police are free to look into any illegal activity involving Matiang'i, they will not arrest him after receiving anticipatory bail.
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Through his attorneys, Matiang'i asserted in court records that he had acquired reliable evidence from Kenya Police officers that there were explicit orders to arbitrarily detain and imprison him to prosecute him for unrelated political reasons.
According to him, "the respondents and the Kenya Police are abusing and misusing the powers of arrest to harass, threaten, and persecute the applicant and his former cabinet colleagues as well as the former president; and to gain extraneous political goals unrelated to upholding the Law."
To prevent the respondents, their servants, agents, junior officials, and anybody else from arresting, charging, harassing, or otherwise interfering with him, Matiang'i petitioned the court to impose a conservatory order.
He asserts that on February 9, 2023, police officials searching for him conducted a raid, encircled, and sealed off his home.
According to Matiang'i, the police officers left when the press and his attorneys showed up.
Since then, Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof. Kithure Kindiki has come forward to deny the alleged dispatch of police to Matiang'i's residence.
"Lawyers for Dr. Matiangi and a few politicians who talked to the media on the spot said that the individuals in question were police officers dispatched to detain the former interior Cabinet Secretary. This claim is completely untrue, "Kindiki released a statement.
No police officer or security personnel was sent from any government agent or department to Dr Fred Matiang'i's home to detain him, harass him, or otherwise interfere with his constitutional rights, the official continued.
