Mutula's family seeks answers as anniversary marked

Two years on, the mystery surrounding the death of Senator Mutula Kilonzo remains unresolved even as his family presses for answers.

The family has registered frustrations in its search for clues into what caused the senator’s death on April 27, 2013 at his Ranch in Maanzoni Lodge in Machakos County.

“Everything is still the same. The situation is the same as I found my father lying motionless on his bed. As a family, we are still mourning the demise of our father,” said Mutula’s son, Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr.

He takes issue with the failure to get any positive feedback from the Office of the Director Public Prosecution (DPP) and the Criminal Investigations Department.

The senator says samples taken for autopsy may have been tampered with.

“I recorded two statements with the CID on how my dad died and the tampering with the samples. The police are yet to conclude investigations. I have not been informed of whoever has recorded statement with CID on the matter,” said Mutula Jnr.

He continued, “Even the British pathologist or the local pathologists are yet to record any statement. The DPP Kariako Tobiko had ordered that the file be presented to him expeditious but nothing has been forthcoming.”

The UK pathologist who conducted post-mortem on the body had refused to sign the final autopsy report citing “frustration” in the course of his work.

The death of the once vibrant political orator shocked the country, even as the government pledged to probe the matter.

The Standard on Sunday has established that the family plans to have a low-key remembrance ceremony at his rural home in Makueni, even though it is not clear if the deceased’s wife Nduku Kilonzo and her children will attend.

Nduku and Mutula Jnr have in the recent past engaged in a public spat over the care of lions kept at the family’s Maanzoni Ranch, which have since been taken by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

The Senator said on the telephone that though they still mourn the demise of their father, this is the time the government should tell Kenyans the progress of the investigations.

Mutula Jnr recorded a statement after finding out that some samples had been removed from his father’s home and the senator’s body moved. He was the first family member on the scene the day Mutula died.

Prof Ian Calder, an expert hired by the family, claimed in March last year that the toxicology specimens given to him were “opened and possibly contaminated”.

Calder and another expert , Dr Patterson, were to find the actual cause of death after the preliminary post mortem concluded it could not be ascertained and therefore more tests were needed.

Government Chief Pathologist Johannes Oduor submitted his post-mortem report after six months and stated he died from a general lack of clotting, amongst other things.