Casper Waithaka and Sam Kiplagat
30 April 2008
Nairobi — The families of two Mungiki leaders who were shot dead on Monday blamed the police for the killings.
Mrs Esther Wagaca, the mother of Charles Ndung'u who was the chairman of Mungiki's political wing, said that in March police had threatened to wipe out her sons if they did not quit the sect.
But the police dismissed the claims and said they were following crucial leads.
Speaking later, police spokesman Eric Kiraithe questioned why some sect members circulated information to the media that their leaders were being trailed just minutes before they were killed.
"Immediately after the killing, one of the killers took a briefcase from the car's boot. These people knew what they were looking for. The police were not in any way involved," Mr Kiraithe said.
He added that the killers were also being sought for a series of murders in Nairobi and Central provinces.
The killing was a plot by the police to provoke sect members to protest so that Mungiki could be wiped out, their spokesman Njuguna Gitau Njuguna said.
"They are trying to silence us since we have much evidence that we want to give to the Government when the planned talks begin. This is a cover up so that we shift our attention and start demonstrating. I assure them we will not until we are heard just as the Prime Minister promised," said Mr Njuguna.
He added that they are aware that the KweKwe squad had been disbanded and another one called Eagle formed instead.
The slain leader was brother to Gabriel Njoroge who was killed alongside Virginia Nyakio, wife of the sect's spiritual leader Maina Njenga. On Monday, he was erroneously referred to as Ms Nyakio's brother.
Assured
"I talked to Ndung'u on Monday morning and he told me he would be travelling to Naivasha and would meet the PC. I warned him that the killers of his brother may be after him but he assured me he would be safe," said Mrs Wagaca.
She said that at around 11am they were informed by an elder son that Njoroge's killers were after Ndung'u, then they were called again and told he had been killed.
She refuted claims that her sons were involved in the outlawed sect, saying Ndung'u was a businessman. However, Mr Njuguna, had previously acknowledged Ndung'u as the party chairman.
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