Silas Jakakimba (in white) leaves the Homa Bay county assembly /HABIL ONYANGO
Opposition leader Raila Odinga’s political aide Silas Jakakimba was yesterday being sought by Zimbabwean police over post-election skirmishes that rocked Harare last week.
According to reports in Zimbabwe, local police were seeking to interrogate him over street protests that broke out after the presidential results were announced.
Supporters of the defeated Movement for Democratic Change Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa took to the streets in violent protests after Emmerson Mnangagwa was announced winner.
Zimbabwe police chief spokesperson senior assistant commissioner Charity Charamba was quoted by the Daily Mail saying, “The Zimbabwe Republic Police is keen to interview Silas Jakakimba, a Kenyan national, in connection with the disturbances which occurred in Harare on August 1.” He asked citizens to inform police of Jakakimba’s whereabouts.
But Jakakimba said he was in Harare for three days and left on Tuesday afternoon for Nairobi before the violence broke out.
He said he had been dispatched by Raila to convey a goodwill message to Chamisa during the MDC’s final rally at Freedom Square before the July 30 election.
“When I left, Harare was normal, folks were warm and welcoming, streets busy and skies clear blue,” Jakakimba said in a statement.
He dismissed allegations that he travelled to Zimbabwe as Chamisa’s political strategist ahead of the hotly fought post-Mugabe presidential election.
“I was not and have never been a strategist for either the MDC Alliance or its presidential candidate, my friend and brother Cde Nelson Chamisa,” Jakakimba said.
Raila’s ODM has enjoyed a checkered relationship with MDC and its top leadership since the times of Morgan Tsvangirai.
In 2012, Tsvangirai, who led the MDC, was the chief guest at the party’s National Convention, where Raila was publicly declared the ODM presidential candidate.
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