JM family’s quest for justice remains alive

By Amos Kareithi

The British colonial forces could not contain the prophetic freedom fighter. Josiah Mwangi Kariuki (JM) was detained in some of Kenya’s notorious camps but this did not break his spirit.

Thirty-four years after he was brutally killed by powerful forces in the Kenyatta administration, JM continues to prick the conscience of peers who betrayed the freedom fighters’ cause.

As Kenyans celebrated the 45th Jamhuri Day yesterday, JM’s warnings years ago still hold.

In her memoirs, I am My Father’s Daughter, Rosemary Wanjiku Kariuki rekindles her father’s fighting spirit.

She lifts the veil of the shame and fear her family have had to live through for being linked with the flamboyant politician.

The daughter revisits the ideals JM stood for and his memorable prophecy that Kenya was a country of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars.

She recalls how a teacher broke the news of her father’s death.

"Rosemary you remember the article that said your dad was missing. Well, they found him. Unfortunately, he is dead," she writes of the shocking news from the teacher.

She recalls: "After my father was gone, suddenly the name JM Kariuki was mentioned in fear. We were outcasts. Had our father been so bad as to deserve such a cruel death?" she poses.

The parliamentary committee probing his death uncovered a plot trying to link JM with a series of bombings. This was calculated to validate allegations that JM had allegedly hatched a plan to take over the Government.

There were some disconcerting moments when Wanjiku came face to face with some of the people linked to her father’s death.

In her book, she recalls how a lawyer took off with Sh6 million while another destroyed files, which the family believes had an inventory of everything he owned.

"There has been an attempt to assassinate my father again by not only obliterating him from history but also squandering all he had," she adds.

The family believes that although it is late to investigate the murder, the truth will one day be known.

Broken Promises

When he was killed in 1975, the family was consoled by the entire nation and string of hollow promises made by politicians and friends.

Among those who attended his burial was President Kibaki, who moved the family by promising that even if it took 100 years, the killers would be known.

Later, politicians gave the family a cold shoulder even as the Parliamentary Select Committee report on who had killed JM gathered dust in the shelves.

When the clamour for multi party politics started, the family for the first time held memorials for JM.

During the memorials, the politicians would flock and make promises but the family later realised they just wanted to use JM’s name to popularise themselves.

When the opposition replaced the Kanu regime, the family thought their quest for justice would bear fruit.

Now the family is hinging its hopes on the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission to address such cases as the murder of JM, Gama Pinto and Robert Ouko.

Inquest

The family filed a report to have an inquest opened based on the findings of the Parliamentary Select Committee.

The application was declined and in 2005, the family through lawyer James Orengo filed a case against the Government.

They are challenging the Government for continued violation of the family’s human rights by refusing to investigate the JM murder.

The case has not been concluded.

To keep the JM fire burning, the family in March 2003 mounted a plaque at Olosho Oibor at Ngong’ where JM’s remains were found.

The family has also reconstructed JM’s life by interviewing people who knew JM to piece together what he stood for.

Threat

Wanjiku believes her father was killed because he was a threat to some people who wanted to succeed Kenyatta.

The Parliamentary Select Committee said it had been frustrated by Mbiyu Koinange (Minister of State), former Commissioner of Police James Mungai (then Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Rift Valley).

They were further horrified to learn that the names of Kenyatta’s bodyguard Wanyoike wa Thungu and Koinange had been expunged from the parliamentary committee report.

In 2000, the family called for the arrest and investigation of Ben Gethi, Benard Hinga, Ignatius Nderi, Joginder Sokhi and James Mungai.

The family also wanted George Githii, Pius Kibathi, Peter Gicheru Ngau and Stanley Thuo investigated.

"We have implored the Government time and again to grant us justice. I have observed how the lives of those who are guilty of my father’s assassination have turned out, they have died in agony," Wanjiku says.

The family, however, fears time is running out as the witnesses and actors in the murder are whittled away by death.