The seven county askaris after being released by police at the Nyali Police Station. [Photo/barakafm.org]
Seven Mombasa County askaris who were on Monday arrested after a confrontation over alleged land grabbing have been released.According to Baraka FM, the seven askaris were arrested for demolishing a wall on a piece of land said to have been grabbed.Efforts by the daily to get police to comment on the matter were futile as their phone calls went unanswered.This comes after Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho went to the Nyali Police Station to demand the release of the askaris, saying they had stopped illegal construction on public property.Joho said he will defend the rights of his people, noting that the seven were acting on direct orders from their seniors in his administration to stop the illegal construction of a wall on public property.“The said piece of land was approved by National Land Commission (NLC) as an access route to the beach. Why is it that police are indulging in land disputes? This leaves us with more questions than answers,” said Joho.“They were arrested and detained at this police station on orders from above. Since when do police officers handle land disputes? I will be moving to court to seek interpretation of the law on the mandate of the county government. Police cannot forcefully take our mandate. They cannot simply try to stop our officers from enforcing their orders,” he added, as quoted by the daily.