Comedian Eric Omondi has been arrested at City Stadium along Jogoo Road, Nairobi, where he was supposed to distribute maize flour to Kenyans grappling with the high cost of living.
Omondi had invited everyone, who plans to accompany him to State House, to receive unga.
“Wakenya wenzetu hawana unga. Ni unga tu nilikuwa napeana (my fellow Kenyans have no maize flour. I was just distributing unga),” Omondi told the police.
This is the second time the comedian is being arrested in Nairobi.
Last week, he was apprehended after leading a demonstration to Parliament over the high cost of living.
He was later arraigned on Wednesday, February 22 at Milimani Law Courts longside 16 others.
The suspects, who appeared before Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina, denied one count of taking part in an unlawful assembly.
The charge sheet stated: “On February 21, 2023 at 1300 hours along Parliament Road in Nairobi county, they took part in unlawful assembly.”
After denying the charge, the accused persons applied to be released on reasonable cash bail of not more than Ksh5,000 or personal bond.
Their lawyer Danstan Omari told court that the accused were content creators and that intention of the alleged unlawful meeting was to push the government to tame the rising cost of living.
“All these persons are international content creators. They went to Parliament to get Parliament to deal with the current cost of living in the country. I urge the court to take the judicial notice that six million Kenyans are on the verge of fasting as per the government report,” the lawyer stated while seeking to have them released on bail.
He added: “The young men represented 55 million Kenyans to tell Parliament to tame the high cost of living in the country. The state has criminalized these natural heros fighting for the whole country. The people cannot afford food on their tables.
That is why we are seeking the court to release them on their personal bond or a cash bail of Ksh5,000,” Omari told the court.
The magistrate, however, ordered each of the accused persons to be released on a bond of Ksh20,000 or a cash bail of Ksh10,000.
The case will be mentioned on March 6, 2023, for pre-trial.
