This archive report was first published on 9 November 2019.
On November 7, 2019, a viral video surfaced showing ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna instructing Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati and 'his boys' to deal with Bonny Khalwale and Didimus Barasa at a campaign rally in Kibra.
According to the video, Sifuna ordered that Barasa should be chased from Woodley to the border of Kibra constituency in less than 2 minutes.
On the day of the by-election, Thursday, November 7, 2019, Khalwale and Barasa were indeed chased by irate youth in Kibra constituency, with Arati at the center of a scuffle in which the Kimilili legislator was roughed up.
Arati was captured on camera in a brief exchange with Barasa, in which he asked him if he wanted to run before chaos broke out.
However, Arati has since dismissed claims that he unleashed goons on Barasa, stating that he is the one who saved him from the wrath of the youth.
'It is wrong for people and even you the media to report that I unleashed youths on Barasa. It is me who saved him,' Arati told a local media house.
Arati clarified that when he asked Barasa if he wanted to run, he was referring to an earlier incident in which Barasa and Oscar Sudi had been accosted by rowdy youths over allegations that they were buying voters.
He also expressed hope that Barasa's lost cap will be recovered soon.
