Mombasa, KENYA: Seven county Askari’s who were on Monday arrested by police over Mombasa land row have been released.
They were released after being locked up at Nyali police station for three hours.
Those who spoke to Barakafm FM said they were arrested as they were demolishing a wall on a land said to have been grabbed.
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho had earlier caused drama at Nyali police station demanding the release of his marshals.
Joho accused the police of intimidating the County inspectorates who were performing their duties under county laws.
He accused police of illegally protecting grabbers of public property, saying the inspectorate officers had gone to inspect “illegal construction” on public property.
“The said piece of land was approved by National Land Commission as an access route to the beach. Why is it that police are indulging in land disputes? This leaves us with more questions than answers,” he said.
Joho claims the said land at the center of controversy is a public land,he said the construction of the wall began on Friday under the police watch, adding that somebody who is powerful in the government had a hand on it.
“It doesn’t matter whoever owns the land ,the NLC letter dated August 2016 indicates the land was illegally grabbed,”Joho told the reporters outside the police station.
Joho said he will move to court to seek a determination on the line of enforcement between the national and county governments.
Efforts by Baraka FM to get police to comment on the matter were futile as our phone calls went unanswered.
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