Activities at the Mombasa county government offices were brought to a standstill as two senior county officials barricaded themselves in their offices in order to avoid arrest on Monday afternoon.
The county's finance executive- Maryam Mbaruk and her Chief officer- Aisha Abdi were at the centre of the dramatic scene as a contingent of seven officers made their way to the county offices to implement arrest warrants that had been issued out by Mombasa high court judge Erick Ogolla.
However, as soon as word got to Ms Mbaruk and her colleague, they locked themselves in their office with some aid from the county inspectorate and other senior county officials, as reported by The Standard.
After unsuccessfully trying to bring the door down, the officers reportedly called for back up which arrived approximately 40 minutes later.
Under the command of Coast Region Deputy Police Commander Joseph Chebii, the reinforcements were able to storm into the offices only to find that the two officials had sneaked out and were nowhere to be seen.
The arrest warrants had been issued in relation to a Ksh18 million debt owed to Mombasa based lawyer- Robinson Malombe.
Ms Mbaruk and Ms Abdihad had been found guilty of contempt of court after failing to pay the outstanding amount within 60 days as was set out by the court.
On his part, Mr Malombe revealed to The Standard that the amount was a fraction of the Ksh1.2billion he claims to be owed by Mombasa Governor- Ali Hassan Joho's administration.
"These are services rendered during the defunct Mombasa municipality. According to the law, the county inherited both assets and liabilities," he divulged.