Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria has weighed in on the arrest of Starehe Member of Parliament Charles Njagua over utterances he made on Tuesday, widely interpreted as xenophobic.
Speaking on Wednesday, Kuria defended his Starehe counterpart, saying that what he said was not different from what had been said by Interior and Coordination of National Government Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i.
Kuria said he and other Members of Parliament had been denied access to Njagua, adding that teargas canisters had been lobbed at them.
"We have just come here as Members of Parliament, as colleagues of Jaguar and we are surprised when we have asked to see him we have been teargassed, we have been chased, and even some live bullets have been aimed in our direction. We are surprised because what Honorable Jaguar said is exactly the same thing that Honourable CS Matiang'i had said, " Moses Kuria said.
The outspoken legislator maintained that Njagua's position was consistent with government policy, saying that foreigners should not be allowed to compete with locals at the hawking level.
Government Spokesman Colonel (Rtd) Cyrus Oguna said that the MP's utterances did not reflect government policy.
"We wish to state that this is not the position of the Government of the Republic of Kenya, and we denounce the comments carried in the video in the strongest terms possible.
"Such comments are unfortunate and have no place in today’s globalized environment. Kenyans are peace loving people who have over the years coexisted with others of different nationalities," Oguna said as quoted by Citizen.