19 MAASAI TRIBESMEN FINED FOR BEING UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN KENYA AND FOR HAVING ENGAGED THEMSELVES IN EMPLOYMENT WITHOUT PERMITS.
Writes Leo Odera Omolo in Kisumu City.
NINETEEN Maasai tribesmen, who were early this week rounded up in a major dragnet, conducted by immigration officials to flush out undesirable aliens, have appeared before the Kisumu Senior Resident Magistrate, Mrs Charity Oluoch, and pleaded guilty to two counts of being in Kenya unlawfully ,and for having engaged themselves in employment without work permits.
Each one of the accused was fined Kshs 10,000 on each count or in default, each one of the accused persons is to serve a prison term of three months on each count, bringing the prison sentence that each accused would serve in default of fines to a total of six months in jail.
The magistrate also made an order that the accused persons be deported out of the country after paying the fines.
Prosecuting the accused persons, Mr.David Kemboi, a senior immigration officer based at the Nyanza Province immigration offices in Kisumu City, had told the court that all the accused committed the offenses at different places in Kisumu Town on December 9th, 2009.
The first count stated that on December 9th, 2009 within Kisumu Town, in Nyanza Province, the accused person s were found to be in the country unlawfully, without permit or resident’s passes.
The nineteen accused further admitted that on the day in question, at Kisumu Town in Nyanza Province, they were found to have engaged themselves on employment in Kenya without work permit or exemption order.
None of the accused persons was able to raise the Kshs 20,00 fines immediately, and at the time of going to the press, most of the accused were still in custody of the prison warden, at the Kisumu law court.
The immigration officials in Kisumu swung into action, following complaints raised last week by the Nyanza Provincial Commissioner, Mr Francis Mutie, who was reported by a section of the press as having expressed concern over the high influx of Maasai watchmen in Kisumu City.
The said Maasai, most of whom are from Tanzania, were said to be lacking work permits, and were reportedly taking up employment without any documents, and were also being suspected to be masterminding thefts, and robberies in Kisumu City and its environs.
He said illegal immigrants from the neighboring Tanzania were suspected to have been responsible in committing serious criminal offenses and then crossing the common border, back to their native country.
Ends
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