Nairobi — Paul Ngugi cannot help but thank God for saving his life from the merciless bullets of Administration Police officers that snuffed life out of his seven colleagues.

At around midnight, a client walked up to him at his Riruta base where he operates taxi business. The client, Mr Ngugi recalled, asked to be dropped at Dagoretti Corner, a 15-minute drive from Riruta.

"I reluctantly agreed to take him because of the standoff we had earlier had with our boda boda colleagues which we wanted to solve before daybreak," he told the Nation on Monday.

He left his friends behind, the last time he ever saw them alive. While on the way to Dagoretti Corner, he recalled hearing shouts of the other drivers he left behind.

"It took about ten minutes and everything grew silent," he narrated at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights offices where he went to report the killing of seven taxi drivers in Dagoretti.

He had no doubt in his mind what could have transpired and decided not to return to his base for fear that he too might be shot. Mr Ngugi, who doubles as the Riruta Taxi Association secretary general, broke down as he narrated the events leading to the shooting of the seven.

According to him, there was no need to shoot his colleagues. "It was a small feud between the taxi and motorcycle operators which we were going to resolve anyway," he said.

The seven, he said, were ordered to lie down and shot at close range. One victim was shot in the head while the rest were shot from behind. Only two managed to escape from the scene when the APs arrived with their guns blazing.

Lost an employee

Among the seven, Mr Ngugi lost an employee, Mr Joseph Ngugi, who operated one of his vehicles. "We had worked together for 13 years from the same spot and knew each other pretty well. It is hard to believe so many of us have left us," he said. Already, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has directed Internal Security Minister Prof George Saitoti to speed up investigations into the killings.

Mr Ngugi and the association's chairman, Mr John Waruingi, said on Sunday they are worried about their lives following the killing of their colleagues. Mr Waruingi said the drivers fear the police may want to target them under the pretext of hunting down Mungiki adherents.

The two were accompanied to KNCHR offices by John 'KJ' Kiarie and former Dagoretti MP Chris Kamuyu. They met KNCHR vice chairman Hassan Omar Hassan and commissioner Fatuma Dullo, who said the commission will investigate the killings.

The commission condemned the police action and called for the prosecution of the officers involved. Mr Hassan said the police had no reason to shoot the seven who were unarmed and posed no risk to them. The shootings, he noted, only helped to widen the rift between the public and the police.

The killings which have drawn the ire of the public and rights groups occurred last Wednesday night after the taxi operators clashed with the motorcycle colleagues over places for picking up passengers.

According to Mr Kiarie, the APs owned the motorcycles and were acting only to protect their business interests. He said the police could not be trusted to investigate itself and a neutral entity such as KNCHR needed to take over the work. "We want police to stop killing our youths and allow peace to prevail in Dagoretti," said Mr Kamuyu.

The area leaders also called for the removal of the police post from the area and the transfer of the area district commissioner identified only as Mr Wamalwa, who they said had worked in the area for more than ten years.