Cabinet secretary for interior Joseph Nkaissery yesterday said that the government will forcibly disarm Mombasa governor, Hassan Joho, because he has crossed the line and abused his privilege.

“We have sent him a warning, to return the gun or face the law; you can’t challenge a government no matter who you are”. Nkaissery said adding that the governor will be investigated for refusing to obey police directives to surrender his license.

“It is a privilege to own a gun, because you shouldn’t own a gun. You are not supposed to own a gun because government protects you, therefore the privilege shouldn’t be abused,” he said

Nkaissery maintained that the move to withdraw Joho’s guns has nothing to do with the just concluded Malindi by election but is part of an ongoing investigation at the port of Mombasa surrounding the governor’s freight containers.

“The government has decided to withdraw the arms during this period and once the investigations are over and we find no issues, we will hand them back,” Nkaissery said.

The CS was referring to the closure by the Kenya Revenue Authority of Container Freight Stations (CFS) owned by Mr Joho’s family but the opposition has dismissed that theory saying that the government is hitting back at its politicians who lead the campaigns for the Malindi by-election, which the ruling coalition lost.

Police officers attached to Joho have also been withdrawn. The two Administration Police officers who guard his house and five bodyguards were recalled on Thursday.

SECURITY DETAIL OF FORMER POLITICIANS TO BE REDUCED

Nkaissery also issued a directive to have the security detail assigned to former elected political leaders to be scaled down with immediate effect.