Was he assassinated? Bishop Muge’s death remains a mystery

By WAWERU MUGO

“I’m a small man in size but very dangerous,” the man standing on the rostrum said one afternoon in October 1990. “When I warn people, they should heed my advice.”

He went on: “Recently, I warned some people of what would happen to them but they defied my warning and what followed stunned the world.”

He may not have been a dangerous man, but Peter Okondo, who had resigned months earlier as Labour minister after threatening Eldoret’s Anglican Bishop Alexander Muge, was known for his long tongue.

Just two months before he made this statement, Okondo had caused an outcry when he asked Muge not to visit Busia. Muge did, and died on his way back to Eldoret.

Okondo had warned Muge not to step into Busia or he would “see fire and maybe not leave alive”.

As Okondo issued the warning, Muge said: “Let Okondo know that my innocent blood will haunt him forever and he will not be at peace for God does not approve of murder.”  The day before he died, the bishop said his life was in danger.

In Busia, the bishop was met by jovial supporters. The day went well, with gathered crowds taunting Okondo to come and see that Muge had indeed defied the warning.

“Where is Okondo to see for himself?” crowds yelled. “This is our man!”

Muge continued to hold an open-air church service and left for Eldoret later that afternoon. On the way back, however, his car collided with a milk truck and he was killed instantly.

“It’s done! It’s done!” Muge was said to have cried out before he died, according to a report commissioned by the synod of his Eldoret diocese. The report was based on witness accounts. The bishop may have meant that the plot to kill him had finally been executed.

It was a horrific accident. Witnesses said Muge’s car “flew in the air” in a cloud of dust after being smashed by the milk truck. Immediately, there was speculation that Muge had been assassinated. The bishop, along with his Maseno South counterpart, Henry Okullu, had spoken openly about reforms during the country’s single-party rule era.

A court case could not prove who killed Muge. The driver of the truck, Niconari Munai Omukoba, was tried for dangerous driving and sentenced to seven years in jail. Although his defence argued that the trial was politically motivated, no politician was called to give evidence, as noted by trial magistrate Roselyn Walekwa.

Confounding mystery

But for Muge’s family, justice was never served unless the people behind his death, if indeed it was an assassination, were put on trial.

So who killed Muge? Was he assassinated or was it an unfortunate accident? It remains one of the country’s confounding mysteries.

In the months leading to his death, Muge was among the most vocal critics of government. He and other church leaders and democracy advocates had harshly criticised the government for abuse of rights, corruption, and bad governance.

Many people who campaigned for reforms were tortured and detained, while others disappeared mysteriously. For his criticism of government and free expression, Muge was often blasted by Kanu loyalists. At one time, he accused Kanu youth wingers of harassing him.

According to the synod report, the only wrong Muge had committed was presenting his views to the Kanu Review Committee in Eldoret, and an appeal to Moi to appoint a commission to investigate Cabinet ministers and senior civil servants for corruption. For this, he was a man under siege by powerful figures in government. Okondo’s warning added to the intrigue.

The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission that was set up to investigate historical injustices heard evidence and views from across the nation. One of the people who appeared before it was James Lando Khwatenge, who worked with the Directorate of Intelligence, also known as the Special Branch, in Eldoret at the time.

Torture chambers

Now, the Special Branch was a dreaded outfit accused of carrying out the regime’s dirty work ranging from torture, assassinations and staging mysterious disappearances. It has been mentioned in the death of the then Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Ouko, as well as a list of pro-reform personalities who fought for democracy and good governance. Ouko had died in the same year, in what some operatives in government claimed was a suicide.

Special Branch operated the notorious torture chambers in Nyayo House, Nairobi. Here, people were indiscriminately arrested and tortured in the most horrific manner that including beatings, solitary confinement and being forced to stay in dark, water-logged cells for days.

Khwatenge told the commission that Muge was killed by Special Branch officers based in Eldoret. They allegedly took advantage of Okondo’s threats and determined this was the appropriate time to murder him.

“Okondo said these words to be seen as a loyal Nyayo follower but then people took advantage of this,” Khwatenge said, according to media reports.

He said Muge’s death was the final job in what the killers had code-named “Operation Shika Msumari.” Officers were sent from Nairobi to go kill Muge, he told the commission.

In its report, the Truth Commission said over 18,000 people were tortured by governments since independence. The Special Branch instigated the torture and killings, including that of Muge and a host of government critics.  For now, the culprits involved in Muge’s death, if there were any, remain unpunished.