Nandi Governor Stephen Sang was on Monday afternoon arrested moments after he presented himself at the Kapsabet Police station to record a statement.
The governor who walked from his offices at the county headquarters accompanied by residents to the station was arrested and whisked away under heavy police guard to an unknown destination after spending a few minutes at the DCI offices at the station.
Earlier the governor had addressed the press at the county headquarters saying that he had lawfully uprooted tea to restore grabbed public property to the rightful owners.
Sang said the National Land Commission had given him a go ahead to reclaim the land which had been given to members of Ketchem area in Nandi Hills by the white settlers to construct a cattle dip.
“It is unacceptable for Kibwari tea estate to grab land that housed a cattle dip and plant tea on it, this is economic sabotage,” exclaimed Sang.
Sang defended his action of uprooting the tea bushes saying that one cannot construct cattle dip on top of tea.
The governor said the tea estate had gone to court to obtain a restraint order that was not granted.
“We have the documents to show that the land belongs to the community where the members contributed money after some of them sold their cattle and chicken towards the construction of the dip,” revealed Sang.
Sang added that his government had plans to construct affordable housing units on the repossessed land in line with the Big 4 agenda asserting that the journey to repossess all stolen public property is on course.
He stated that he was ready to present himself to the DCI to record a statement and had not been in hiding as it had earlier been claimed.
By Bethsheba Abuya
