How Intelligence officer sought Kilonzo the day he died

By Amos Kareithi

Thirteen years since the strange death of former Police Commissioner Philip Kilonzo, his distraught family is still waiting for justice.

But now like scions of an onion, layers of the mystery are falling off, revealing dark secrets in one of Kenya’s unexplained deaths.

Kilonzo’s Station Bar, Matuu, where he collapsed after a drink.

On July 29, 1997, an officer attached to the Special Branch — State Intelligence gathering agency —visited Caltex Petrol station in Matuu, demanding to know when Philip Kilonzo was expected.

Even after unsuspecting workers told the officer Kilonzo would come later in the day, he made several trips to the station, pestering them to give him details of Kilonzo’s trip.

When he was told the former top cop would be coming in the evening to monitor work at his hotel project, he receded into oblivion.

"There was nothing unusual about his questions. Although we knew he was an intelligence officer, we were used to these kinds of queries. All manner of people would troop to the petrol station, hoping to have audience with my husband," Naomi Mule recalls.

But looking back, the widow now realises this was a man with a mission and his questions must have been to plot something sinister. She had spent the day with her husband in Nairobi. In the morning, Kilonzo had jogged for two hours. He took a cup of tea at 4pm before taking off.

Apparently, those who plotted Kilonzo’s death knew his in-laws had given him a crate of White Cap beer, which was kept at Station Bar, a place he visited often.

"It is true he had been given a crate of beer but we do not know whether the killer drink came from there. You know it is possible the bottle could have been retrieved from anywhere within the pub," Chris Kilonzo, the last family member to see the former commissioner alive, recounted.

Distress call

On that day, Kilonzo was at the Station Bar. Chris did not, however, monitor what his father was doing until 10pm when the unthinkable happened. Chris recalls answering to his father’s distress call after he dropped at the bar, shortly after consuming beer he had exclaimed tasted and smelt strange.

"I do not know exactly what happened inside the bar, but I was there within minutes and helped take him to the hospital. Unfortunately, we were told he was already dead," Chris recalls.

Son Chris shows the seat his father occupied that evening. Photos: Amos Kareithi/Standard

After the tragedy, Chris, the youngest in a family of 10, had to shoulder the responsibility of breaking the news, bringing Matuu to a standstill.

Vincent, Kilonzo’s eldest son, recalls how he received the news at their Ndalani home and rushed to hospital to confirm what sounded like a nightmare.

"While at the hospital, I called a Provincial Administration official, who rushed to the hospital. He later went to the scene and collected samples of my father’s beer and glass," Chris recalls.

In the meantime, the sad news was quickly communicated through Government channels. When Kilonzo’s body was taken to Nairobi, the family found the then Commissioner of Police Duncan Wachira waiting at Lee Funeral Home at 1am.

All this time, the family was reeling in shock and was grateful to the apparent support they were getting.

"We were too trusting and naÔve. Had we known what was in the offing, we would have been more vigilant. We believed promises that the matter would be investigated thoroughly," Vincent says.

This is why when the samples collected from Station Bar were handed over to the police in the morning, ostensibly for onward transmission to the Chief Government Chemists for analysis, the family did not countercheck.

"It is impossible to know what samples were collected at the scene. After my father fell, there was a lot of commotion and it is possible the beer might have been spilt. We did not follow up at the time," Vincent adds.

Sources we talked to intimated there was a possibility the former commissioner’s drink was laced with a potent poison with capacity to kill instantly.

"The only poison known to act this fast is derived from crocodile bile. Ingestion of the most minute portion even tasting with the tip of the tongue is enough to kill in seconds and cannot be traced in the body during post mortems," a source told The Standard.

When an autopsy was carried out, again the family had no doctor to represent them, and relied on the findings of the then Chief Government Pathologist Kirasi Olumbe.

"We were told my father had died from heart attack. At the time, we did not question what had caused the attack in an otherwise healthy person. Looking back now, the report was very unhelpful," Vincent adds.

At the time, the family felt honoured as it was provided with full protection with armed officers keeping vigil in Matuu and Runda until the former commissioner was buried with a 21-gun salute and military honours.

The family was further emboldened when Anna, the barmaid, the bar man and Mwanzia were all arrested and locked up at Matuu Police Station.

The suspects were, however, released discreetly after it became official Kilonzo had died of heart attack. Our investigations show only one of the witnesses we traced, Earnest Mwamba, recorded a statement with the police.

Thirteen years after the mysterious death, the Kilonzo family says it is still waiting for justice but the chances are slim as vital witnesses have died from strange causes.