What was supposed to be a day of grief for the deceased Raila Amolo Odinga on Sunday afternoon was instead the unthinkable when a police pistol went missing amidst the burial in Bonda, Siaya County.
The accident took place at 4:30 PM along the JOOUST main gate, where huge numbers of people had thronged to give their last farewell to the erstwhile Prime Minister.
Amidst the large crowd and heightened security arrangements, a bubble of confusion existed regarding the exit of Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa’s group.
Governor’s VIP detail officer Constable Benson Kodia Olayo, who was on duty in the GSU, says he was escorting the Governor out of the building when a crowd of youths suddenly closed in on the vehicle.
At one point, it is alleged, someone grabbed the officer’s gun an open pistol with 15 bullets and melted away into the crowd.
The police indicate it was not possible to pick out the suspect or recover the gun due to the magnitude of the crowd. “The crowd at Grant Park was thick with mourners,” a senior police official who is in the loop informed us. “It was difficult to move rapidly under that formation.”.
The matter has already been picked up by police detectives in the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Bondo, who have begun efforts to arrest the suspect and recover the gun.
The county government is calling on anyone with information on the missing weapon to come forward so, with a warning that it would be a huge gamble if it falls into the wrong hands.
The event has raised new questions regarding security management in VIP events where passions run high and crowds are huge. Even while the day’s purpose was to honor Raila Odinga’s heritage, the loss of a gun in such tight security has left people surprised and by nostalgia.
