Two members of the Bungoma County Assembly were on Tuesday evening charged for inciting traders at Chelwe market not to pay taxes.
Chwele/Kabuchai MCA, Barasa Mukhongo, and his Mukuyuni counterpart, Meshack Simiyu, were arrested alongside four others for inciting traders at the market to boycott levies owed to the County Government.
They were charged with incitement and causing economic crimes where the Bungoma county government is said to have lost Sh 36 million for the last six months where traders in Chwele market refused to pay tax.
In an affidavit presented to the court sworn by Chwele OCS, Timothy Ndiwa, the prosecution claimed that the MCAs while out on police bond engaged the police in running battles on Monday thus making investigations incomplete.
The six did not take any plea for the charges.Lawyer, John Makali, representing the six, said the application lacked merit and that every person is entitled to be released on bond or cash bail in accordance with the constitution.
Makali said the prosecution had failed to give compelling arguments to state that the six did not merit to be released on bond, stating that the six were out on police bond, which they were granted with the assurance that they would attend court proceedings something that they have complied with and that it was wrong for the police to claim that they could not conduct investigations.