MP Charles Were murder probe: Philip Aroko to spend night in police custody, blames Governor Wanga

Homa Bay politician and businessman Philip Nahashon Aroko, who was on Wednesday summoned by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in relation to the ongoing probe into the murder of Kasipul Member of Parliament Charles Ong’ondo Were, has presented himself before the police.

Aroko, flanked by his lawyer Danstan Omari, initially presented himself to the DCI headquarters on Wednesday night, where he addressed the press and denied any involvement in the late MP’s killing that occurred last week.

The businessman stated that he was ready to respond to any queries from detectives regarding the matter as he has nothing to hide, however adding that the probe was being hijacked by political issues.

Aroko blamed his summoning by the police on Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga, whom he accused of attempting to link him to MP Were’s murder, as he urged the county chief to provide the evidence of his involvement if she has any.

“The situation that we are in is very unfortunate. I don’t want to talk about it because it’s under investigation, I want to leave it for the police to do their job. But they summoned me to come and I am here, if anybody has anything that they want to ask me I’ll be ready to answer,” said Aroko.

“But I want to tell the people of Homa Bay County that the politics in that county has been turned into madness, it is not politics, it is thuggery. I saw the Governor pushing so much for me to be called here, she is even making calls to the police for me to be called here to make a statement. She has achieved it now…I want to tell her that we’re changing the politics from thuggery to civilized politics in that constituency.”

He further added: “Because those who fight and kill and maim people are employees of the county government of Homa Bay; they’re on her payroll, she has never talked about anything. But she has achieved this one for me to be here. I know the main reason is because of the burial.”

Lawyer Omari also went ahead to claim that Aroko’s summoning had very little to do with facts but rather county politics, noting that powerful individuals seeminingly do not want him to attend the late MP Were’s burial.

“We have instructions that the reason why Mheshimiwa Aroko is being called to appear is to make him not attend the funeral. Politics of exclusion during funerals will not survive in this country; Mheshimiwa has a right to attend and bury and proceed with the final rituals of the late Sir Charles,” he said.

“Anybody who is scared of his popularity…rumour has it that they want to detain him, charge him for murder and deny him bail…the law has been settled, Mheshimiwa Kapondi has been elected when he was in prison serving a jail sentence.”

Omari later confirmed that Aroko, from the DCI headquarters, presented himself to the Gigiri Police Station where he was booked and will now spend the night until Thursday, when he will be interrogated.

“We want to confirm that our client Philip Aroko who we were with, we have brought him to Gigiri Police Station. We have handed over our client to the relevant officers. He is safe and has no problems at all – he’s willing and has been treated very well,” he said.

“He has been allowed access to his advocates, wife and there is no cause of alarm. The police will deal with this matter as provided for by the police standing order. He will be interrogated, he will record his statements in the presence of his advocates.”