Aspirant cries foul over scary shooting incident

By PAUL MUTUA

ODM Mwingi North parliamentary aspirant whose car was sprayed with bullets by police has termed reports that she defied orders to stop as deceitful.

Ms Zipporah Mueni Manandu Wednesday told off Kyuso DC Peter Kamau for what she described as baseless remarks aimed at covering up the shooting.

Ms Mueni and her mother Rose Muliwa escaped death by a whisker on Saturday evening after a contingent of police officers allegedly shot at her vehicle.

Her driver, Antony Gichuki and aide had serious gunshot wounds and briefly admitted to Mwingi District Hospital before being transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital.

The aspirant was returning to Nairobi from a launch of the ODM Mashinani drive in Kyuso market before her car was shot at near Nguni market, 33km from Mwingi town.

Mueni said it was unfortunate that the DC’s statement came from the head of the District Security Committee, who jumped to a conclusion instead of investigating.

The aspirant regretted a false statement concerning the circumstances of the shooting had been issued. “I refer to the comments made by the DC appearing in a section of the media concerning the shooting. In my view, this amounts to a cover-up attempt to protect the police officers that shot and seriously injured innocent people,” she said.

Mueni said contrary to the DC’s statement, the police shot at them when their car was stationary.

“We have already written statements to that effect and witnesses who saw what happened will attest to this,” Mueni said.

She claimed the shooting was politically instigated, mainly due to her association with Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s ODM party and her growing popularity in Mwingi North.

ASSASINATION

Terming the incident as an assassination attempt, Mueni said the shooting was meant to silence and scare her from contesting the parliamentary seat currently held by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.

“I do not want to believe any agents of the Government can be part of the team planning to eliminate me. But when a senior officer tells a blatant lie, what impressions do I to get? Indeed, I call upon the DC to withdraw his statement that we defied police orders to stop,” she protested.

Mr Kamau had said the shooting was a mistaken identity and refuted claims of foul play.

The administrator said police opened fire on Mueni’s car after it was suspected as the one being used by a gang that had robbed and shot dead a trader in Kyuso market some hours earlier.

Kamau said intensive investigation on the matter had been launched, but warned the public against speculations and politicising the incident.

Mueni’s father, former Kitui North MP (now Mwingi North constituency) Philip Manandu, was gunned down by an Administration Police officer in 1985 at Tseikuru market.