Former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko insists Kenyan police should not be blamed for the death of Pakistani journalist Arshad Mohammed Sharif.
Sonko claims that the Kenyan police were ‘tricked’ into shooting the Pakistani national thinking he was involved in motor vehicle theft.
The former Nairobi governor claims that Sharif was being trailed by a Pakistani killer squad because of an investigation he was doing that was allegedly going to expose a money-laundering syndicate that operates car showrooms in Nairobi and Mombasa.
Sonko claims the money-laundering syndicate involves Pakistani politicians and members of the country’s deep state.
Sonko insists that the police officers in Kajiado county who shot Arshad Sharif are innocent because they were ‘tricked’ into shooting the Pakistani journalist.
The former Nairobi governor says that officers were instructed through police radio that a stolen vehicle was travelling towards Magadi and that the occupants were armed and very dangerous.
He said that the cops, who were manning the roadblock where the vehicle carrying the Pakistani journalist was shot at, had no option but to open fire because they believed they were stopping dangerous individuals from fleeing.
“Why I’m saying our junior police officers who were manning the Nairobi-Magadi highway roadblock are innocent? Gari ya kina huyu journalist was circulated kwa radio calls za police wote as a stollen vehicle and it was believed the occupants were dangerous and heavily armed.
“When our good police officers were alerted the vehicle was approaching the roadblock, wote walijiprepare as usual na kustop hiyo gari but the the late journalist and his driver ignored police orders to stop and instead sped up which forced the police to open fire while chasing the car.
“I think we all still remember the Westgate and Dusit terror attacks very vividly hebu tufikirie vile terrorists waliingia kwa hizi buildings na kulikuwa na presence ya polisi? Na pia mujue ingekuwa hii gari ya journalist iko na terrorists wa ukweli ipite this roadblock while it was circulated waende wauwe watu junction mall ama Galleria mall the officers kwa roadblock wangekuwa blamed na even kuloose jobs zao. So plse let’s not demoralise the spirit of our officers wakiwa kazi wataogopa kupambana na majambazi,” Sonko wrote.
