Kenya government denies pre-election raid on opposition offices..

Kenya government denies pre-election raid on opposition offices

A Kenyan opposition spokesman said police had raided his alliance’s offices on Friday night four days before a national election is due to take place. But the government quickly denied any such action had taken place, dismissing the report as “fake news”.

Watchmen working at the opposition alliance building in Nairobi also told the Reuters news agency there had been no raid – and guards in a building opposite said they had seen no sign of one.

Kenyans are preparing to vote for a president, members of parliament and local politicians on Tuesday in an election already marred by online hoaxes and fake stories from all sides

Kenyan media which initially reported on the raid withdrew stories from websites soon afterwards. Police could not be reached for comment.

The opposition official who reported the attack – Dennis Onyango, a spokesman for the veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga – later turned his phone off.

Voters were already jittery after the murder of a senior election official, and many have been leaving cities for the countryside, some fearing a repeat of the violence that followed the 2007 elections.

Onyango had earlier said via phone and email that staff had been held at the offices for hours during the raid, and gave details on what the police had been wearing and what weapons he said had been used.

“This is fake news and grossly irresponsible,” said Dennis Itumbi, an online spokesman for State House.

Odinga is running against the incumbent president, Uhuru Kenyatta. This week Odinga said the government could only win by rigging elections, and Kenyatta has challenged him to provide proof of his allegations.

A Reuters reporter who went to the office briefly spoke to three watchmen working at the Sifa Towers building, who denied there had been a raid. A man appeared, and said the guards couldn’t speak to the media. He refused to identify himself.

Four watchmen at the building opposite said none of them had seen any police raid that evening. None would give their names.