Assassination allegations beg more answers

By KEN-ARTHUR WEKESA

The dust is yet to settle, a week after Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo made sensational claims regarding an alleged plot to assassinate Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Although there have been many claims touching on the life of the Prime Minister, observers say the latest allegation may have been reckless. Police have, however, since beefed up Raila’s security.

In the run-up to 2002 elections, Raila’s personal car was sprayed with bullets at a Rainbow Alliance campaign trail in North Eastern. Raila had been dropped at Isiolo Airstrip by two aides who escaped unhurt during the incident.

In their reaction, the police attributed the shooting in Bangele to despicable acts of banditry even as Raila’s allies claimed it was an assassination attempt.

Raila’s security was again beefed up in 2009 over claims he was the target of terrorists unhappy with Kenya’s continued co-operation with Washington on the war on terror.

In September last year, again, there was the grenade drama at the Office of the Prime Minister that police dismissed as an act of mischief.

Other high-profile officials have also made claims of similar nature. Miguna Miguna, a former PM’s advisor on Coalition Affairs, also went public in November last year alleging that his life and that of his relatives were in danger.

"The threats are due to my hard-hitting opinions published in a local newspaper and interviews on television," said Miguna after recording a statement with the police and demanding reinstatement of his security.

Internal Security Minister George Saitoti also alleged attempts on his life. The Kajiado North MP alleged on the floor of the House in 2010 that potent voices wanted him dead. He recalled how he was on his ‘death bed’ following a poisoning incident that chillingly occurred "no difference of a day" within Former Foreign Minister Robert Ouko’s murder.

Ouko murder

"Those with institutional memory know that at the time Ouko was killed, I suffered poisoning. I was totally unconscious," a furious Saitoti said when he poked holes on the 2004 Ouko murder report by a select committee, which investigated the murder.

Similarly, Malindi MP Gideon Mung’aro is on record accusing some politicians and councillors of hatching a plot to kill him. Mung’aro accused his political rivals of allegedly meeting in Mombasa to plot how to kill him to succeed in deals to grab land in Malindi.

But the Malindi District Criminal Investigations Officer Kulova Kavete said the MP did not record a statement to prove the seriousness of the allegations.

Former Kabete MP Paul Muite also accused the dreaded Kwekwe squad of marking him for execution for having ruffled the First Family the wrong way and his tirade at the Kibaki regime for raiding The Standard Group. The senior counsel further ascribed the death threat to his sensational remarks about the Government’s role in extra-judicial killings.

The former legislator declined to record a statement with the police, adding that they would only be interested in knowing ‘his credible source’. Muite instead wrote to the International Criminal Court over the threat and asked Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo to investigate the killings.

Gachoka MP Mutava Musyimi also went public over fears for his life when five men, armed with an AK 47 rifle, axes and other weapons, broke into his Nairobi home at night looking for him.

Musyimi, who later recorded a statement with police, was not at the house at the time. He said the attack was political.

Tragic events

"We all know that elections in this country are now accompanied by ugly and tragic narratives. If the incident is in any way linked to the possibility of my candidature, that would be unfortunate," he said.

Police also grilled former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga following claims that his life was in danger. Njenga had raised the red flag over suspicious cars that had on occasions been trailing him.

After post-election violence in 2008, the late Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai complained about receiving death threats that were politically motivated days after her security detail was withdrawn.

The Greenbelt Movement founder alleged that an anonymous person sent her a text message warning her that she would be the next to be killed like former MPs Mugabe Were and Kimutai Too.

Maathai reported the matter to the Central Police Station and asked the then Police boss Hussein Ali to reinstate her security.

A day after asking President Kibaki to throw his weight behind Raila for the top seat, goons for hire broke into Lari MP David Njuguna’s home in the dead hours of night and set ablaze his car. The MP who was away in Mombasa at the time claimed some politicians unhappy with his statement on Raila.

Before his Range Rover was sprayed with bullets along City Hall way as it came for him at Intercontinental Hotel, Kilome MP Harun Mwau complained of being trailed by suspected hit men.

Police launched investigation into the incident and later came up with a theory that it was stage managed after they failed to find any spent cartridges on the crime scene.