Mysterious Deaths of MPs that raised suspicion of foul play

KENYA: In a country where deaths of a number of prominent personalities are believed to have been masterminded by their political opponents,  the passing away of MPs has often been associated with foul play. Waweru Mugo takes a look at some of the deaths that sparked controversy and how they were handled.

Horrace Ongili Owiti

On May 27, 1985, an armed gang struck at the home of Gem MP Horrace Ongili Owiti in Siaya. They attacked him with machetes and batons, stabbed him with knives and carried his lifeless body into a nearby maize plantation. They did not steal anything. His car, parked outside the house, was intact.

The killing had the hallmarks of a cold-blooded murder, as theft was immediately struck off as a possible motive. Who killed him, and why?

The murder was preceded by some violent incidents targeting a bakery he owned in Siaya Town, as well as several attacks on his political agents. One of them had been murdered the year before, soon after a local by-election which Owiti had won.

An investigation revealed a chilling plan to eliminate a political opponent, and pointed at the immediate former area MP Otieno Ambala who became a top suspect. The Sate said he had withdrawn large amounts of money in the days before the death, and had also met key suspects.

As the horrible saga unfolded, Ambala was arrested and charged with the murder, along with six other suspects. But after a few months in jail, he collapsed and died of a heart attack. Some people claimed he too was assasinated to shield the real killers.

State Counsel Momanyi Mbwomwonga told presiding judge Hussein Abdallah that the murder was political. “The primary mission was to murder,” he said.

The trial would also see suspects try to use charms and other paraphernalia, ostensibly to help them overcome the charges.

As the trial progressed, Nereah Auma, a sister of suspect Jeckonia Wangulu Okumu, caused a sensation when she tried to pass charms to him during trial. Auma, 19, had packed the items together with some plant roots in a bag. She was detained, charged with trafficking charms and illegal communication with a suspect, but the charges were later dropped. Another suspect was also found with items used in witchcraft.

Okumu and another suspect Michael Ouma Adongo, were sentenced to death. 

However, following an appeal, Justices JO Nyarangi, Evans Gicheru and Richard Kwach criticised the judgment as “hopeless” and “very bad.”

Stephen Achiya Echakara

On the night of January 15, 1987, Busia North MP Stephen Achiya Echakara was attacked by a gang near Carnivore Restaurant. He died ten days later from injuries suffered in the attack. The thugs also stole Sh70,000 and his pick-up, which was later found abandoned in Majengo.

At the time of the attack, he was in the company of a married woman, Mrs Margaret Namwaki Musungu. The matter would later raise a storm in court after Mrs Musungu was accused of first lying about her names, her identity and that her family was friends with the Echakara’s.

She testified in a case in which two people – Gibson Njau Githaria and Peter Kamande Murigi – were accused of wounding the MP and attacking her.

Mrs Musungu was a Ugandan. The matter ignited the grapevine, with many people reading foul play or a love saga.

The lawyer for the accused, Timan Ngugi, said Mrs Musungu’s evidence (she was the only one who witnessed the attack) was unreliable. Her husband denied that the Echakara’s were family friends. The MP’s widow, Dr Grace Echakara, also dismissed those claims.

“She was also a woman of loose conscience – a married woman who associated with someone’s husband from 1983 to 1987 January when Mr Echakara was attacked,” submitted Ngugi.

However, the two were later sentenced to death for killing the MP, who was also an assistant minister for Labour.

George Kapten

When Kwanza MP George Kapten Welime died in his bed on December 25, 1999, some people were quick to claim that he had been assassinated. Kapten was a lawyer who was serving a second term in Parliament, and was among MPs who fought hard for good governance, a new constitution and against corruption in high places.

There was suspicion that he could have been poisoned. As chief government pathologist Kirasi Olumbe conducted an autopsy, the family decided to have three parallel examinations to ascertain the cause of death.

The family sent samples abroad for tests, while another examination was done by local experts. James Orengo, who was the family’s lawyer, suggested that the first examination by Olumbe had raised suspicions as to what may have killed the MP. Did the family have any fears on the cause of death?

“To be fair to you people, the answer is yes,” Orengo said. “What we saw gave clues. That is why we took three different samples.”

A preliminary examination by Olumbe showed Kapten died of a heart ailment. Given the heated political environment at the time, foul play was suspected.

Among those who testified at an inquest into the MP’s death were Ford-Kenya leader Michael Wamalwa, who concurred that he had fallen out with Kapten over the party’s cooperation with Kanu. Kapten had opposed it.

However, the inquest was told that the death was caused by a malaria drug known as Haflan, which should not be prescribed to patients with a heart problem. Two pathologists – Dr Olumbe, and Prof Aggrey Nyong’o – concluded that the drug caused the MP to have a heart attack. Dr Samwel Njenga said he was not aware that the MP had a heart condition.

Tony Ndilinge

Was Kilome MP Tony Ndilinge assassinated? Was he killed over a love relationship? Were the people who shot him twice in the head on the morning of August 2, 2001, targeting another man and killed him in a case of mistaken identity?

It is now 12 years since the MP was shot dead. Two people charged with the murder were acquitted for lack of evidence. The truth has never been known.

Ndilinge was killed in his car, a Mitsubishi Pajero, in Githurai 44 at 5am. One bullet exited at the back of his head and another lodged in his head. A wallet on his body contained Sh20,000 in cash and cheques issued to him by Parliament. Leaders immediately claimed it was a political assassination. A week earlier, he had told colleagues and the Speaker that some people had been trailing him.  Police advanced several theories, including that he was involved in a relationship with someone else’s girlfriend. He had reportedly picked up a woman at a bar along Thika Road. Among people probed by police was a male friend of a woman the MP had dropped home shortly before his murder.

Eventually, two suspects, truck driver Joakim Kagema and Margaret Wambui Njoroge, were acquitted for lack of evidence.

His family believes he was assassinated.

“Political murders are never solved in Kenya,” one of his widows, Sera, told a local daily in 2011. “It hurts us a lot to see a loved one killed just like that, and 10 years later it is still business as usual. Where is our police force? Where is the intelligence?”

James Mutiso

Could witchcraft have played a hand in the death of Yatta MP James Mutiso in 2003? When it rains in some parts of Eastern Province, dry gullies and streams can quickly transform into rumbling rivers.

This is what happened on the night of May 1, 2003 when the MPs car was swept away while trying to cross Ting’ang’a Bridge across Mbakoni River. The car was smashed against rocks by strong currents, and was found lying upside down. These were his driver and a woman “healer” the MP was taking home. She was expected to be among other women who would prepare food at a victory party for the parliamentarian.

It was death in the hands of raging nature. But people in the village, as well as police officers who visited the scene, saw a more sinister motive.

Suspected witchcraft material was found at the scene, confounding officers. The bizarre material was found concealed in a travelling bag, which was suspected to belong to the traditional healer. To villagers, they were proof that the death was caused by “evil spirits.”

Enock Magara

On the night of October 16, 2000, Enock Magara, an outspoken MP affiliated to the opposition Ford-Kenya party, died in a road accident. He suffered head injuries after his vehicle, a Mitsubishi Pajero, overturned after what his driver described as a tyre burst. He died while being transferred to Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu.

However, MPs claimed that he could have been assassinated. At the time of his death, his vehicle was being followed by “a red police car”.

They said the occupants of the vehicle did not help the legislator at the accident scene. They charged that the officers were first to arrive at Nyabondo Mission Hospital, where he was first rushed.

The family said it was being harassed by the CID after the death, raising suspicion that there was more to the accident than a tyre burst.  “Losing a child is devastating, but when your son’s death is used as an excuse to harass friends, confidants and close relatives, it is bestial,” said his mother, Marcella Magara.

No one was charged.

Kitii Mwendwa

When Kitili Mwendwa, the MP for Kitui West, died in a road accident in 1985, many people, including his family, suspected foul play.

Mwendwa had been Kenya’s first black Chief Justice before he resigned following accusations he was associating with Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, then a political foe of President Kenyatta.

Odinga, who was detained by Kenyatta, was released in 1970. He immediately sought an appointment with the Chief Justice, who met him against the wish of Kenyatta’s cronies. Kitili resigned the following year amid claims he planed to overthrow the government.

After the accident, the government set up an inquest to investigate the death.

His widow, Nyiva Mwendwa, said her husband was killed and the motive concealed.

“I wanted to know the truth about my husband’s sudden death as all the circumstances surrounding the accident suggested foul play,” Mwendwa told a local daily in 2010.

She hired a former policeman to carry out private investigations. The family was shocked when the private detective died in a road accident. He had allegedly found evidence that sharply contrasted the official narrative on Kitili’s accident.

 “I was scared, shocked and felt completely intimidated. The guy’s sudden death was a clear warning to me that my steps were being closely monitored,” she said.

The judicial inquiry did not find any evidence of foul play.

Dr Frederick Masinde

Dr Frederick Masinde was not even MP when he was killed in a car crash at Adams Arcade, Nairobi, in 1994. But he was declared one posthumously a few days later.

Masinde had just got into a taxi together with his brother, Richard. They planned to go and witness vote counting in the Mathare Constituency by-election (now Kasarani) following his successful petition against the election of MP Muraya Macharia in the 1992 polls.

But as they drove, their vehicle collided head on with an oncoming car.

Another one rammed them from behind. He died hours later. As vote counting continued, the Ford-Kenya candidate was declared winner with a comfortable margin. Some people thought he had been eliminated as his party tussled with Kanu and Ford-A. There were claims Kanu had tried hard to have him cross to its side without success.

Opposition politicians, including Raila Odinga, demanded investigations by Scotland Yard. Police were accused of giving wrong information: first they gave the wrong registration number of his vehicle and sited the wrong scene of the accident. His family later said immediately after the accident, a white vehicle went to the scene. Its occupants allegedly cleaned up the scene and left. If Masinde was assassinated, the truth has never been known.