Jumwa resurfaces, records statement after DPP orders arrests in Sh57m graft case

Immediately after Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Haji ordered the arrest of Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa and several others in a Sh57 million graft case, detectives started searching for them.

Ms Jumwa reportedly could not be found from Thursday to Sunday, when she emerged from her Nyali home and went to a police station to record a statement.

“I am now off to Port Police Station as directed by the court. I have heard many stories ... that I have been arrested. I have not been arrested. I am just heading on my own to the station to record my statement,” she told a journalist in a short interview before getting into her Ford Ranger car.

On Friday, Mombasa Chief Magistrate Edna Nyaloti directed the MP to present herself to police for processing before attending court on Monday to take plea.

However, Ms Jumwa said she did not know police were looking for her.

“I am here because the court directed me to be here. I was in Nairobi. I do not know the offences but we will hear them in court tomorrow,” she said.

Others accused

Those arrested earlier include Wachu Omar Abdalla, manager of the National Government Constituency Development Fund, NG-CDF officers Sophia Said, Bernard Riba, Margaret Faith Kalume and Robert Katana, and government engineer Kennedy Otieno Onyango.

Police dramatically picked them up from their homes and officers but Ms Jumwa was summoned by the Mombasa court.

She recorded the statement and left, unlike her co-accused, who were detained at the station after appearing in court.

The six were charged with crimes including a conspiracy to steal Sh19 million meant for the County Development Fund.

They denied the charges and were each granted release on Sh10 million bond with a surety of the same amount or Sh5 million cash bail.

None is reported to have raised the bond or bail ahead of a review of the terms on Monday.

Hideout claims

It was alleged the legislator went underground and fled to a hideout after detectives went looking for her.

Some reports indicated that her colleagues in Mombasa helped her to hide while others stated that she was in Kilifi.

Police sources told the Nation that they looked for her at her homes in both Kilifi and Mombasa but could not find her.

Ms Jumwa missed Deputy President William Ruto’s tour of Nyali on Friday, where he was welcomed by MP Mohammed Ali and former Senator Hassan Omar.

She was also conspicuously absent at the DP’s meeting at Pride Inn Hotel in Shanzu, where he met Muslim faithful.