KENYANS SHOCKED BY KNHRC ASSASINATION ALLEGATIONS

DAILY NATION
By DAVE OPIYO
November 6 2009

Kenya top human rights lobby has termed Thursday’s killing of Mungiki spokesman Njuguna Gitau Njuguna "an assassination."

Officials at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said that the Mr Njuguna had visited their offices two weeks ago expressing fears that his life was in danger.

And they provided records of his October 16 one-hour visit from three p.m.

Vice Chairman Mr Hassan Omar and Commissioner Anne Njogu said the manner of his death raised lots of questions.

“It was a well planned and well thought of idea that took lots of time to execute...it was an assassination,” said Ms Njogu while addressing a news conference at the commission’s headquarters in Nairobi.

Said Mr Omar: “How do you just kill someone in the middle of one of the city’s busiest streets then walk away as if nothing had happened. Its a high time security officials got to the bottom of this.”

Similar sentiments have also been made by lawyer Paul Muite.

Mr Njuguna was felled by unknown assailants inside a mobile shop in the city’s Luthuli avenue.

Witnesses say the bullet tore through his eye and stomach, killing him instantly.

The Vice Chair said although his encounter with Njuguna at their offices was brief, he was clearly informed that officers from the dreaded Kwekwe squad were after his life.

The Kwekwe squad was established a few years ago to deal with the Mungiki, but police insist that it was disbanded earlier this year.

“I was in a hurry leaving the office so we did not speak much...but we agreed that we would meet a few days later to discuss the matter in detail. This was never to be,” said Mr Omar

“But I asked him whether it was true it was really the Kwekwe squad that was after his life since police claim it had been disbanded but he told those were lies. The squad was still in operation.”

Police have since distanced themselves from the shooting.

Internal Security PS Francis Kimemia said on Thursday reports from his officers on the ground had indicated that Njuguna had been arguing about money with two other men.
“Police are on full alert. They will track down and know who did it. It is very easy to blame the police but let the law enforcers investigate the matter first.”

Mungiki has been accused of waging a campaign of bloodshed and extortion, the latest being the massacre of dozens of villagers in Mathira, Central Kenya in April.

KENYANS' ANGER AT KENYA NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS BODY

Submitted by kachubari
Posted November 09, 2009 09:54 AM

DjonBrever? You are damned wrong on this. Mungiki is an amorphous organisation that jobless youths and criminals under guise use to reign terror and extortion. And panacea is to create jobs, discard and stop glorifying the name Mungiki to their favour.

Submitted by dishplanet
Posted November 08, 2009 01:08 PM

..live by the gun, die by the gun.. that said, no assassination is justified.. the killers should be arrested..

Submitted by wuod_aketch
Posted November 08, 2009 02:53 AM

If you people want to know where Mungiki is training on how to shoot with guns, watch the report by a French TV A2 titled "The Gleaners of Nairobi" depicting people of Korgocho surviving on detritus of Nairobi being heaped at the civic amenity of Dandora. Mungiki is a genre of mafia fitting the Kenyan poverty environment.

Submitted by JonBforever
Posted November 08, 2009 02:16 AM

Everyday, innocent Kenyans are engaged in an armed conflict against this tyrant group of an unparalleled scale, magnitude and brutality called Mungiki. It is such a shame that the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has been compelled to convene again to support and not to condemn the murder of innocent civilians by this murderous group. Kenya National Commission on Human Rights meeting with the Late Njuguna Gitau Njuguna is like United Nations having a cup of tea with Osama Bin Laden. Shame on them!

Submitted by mzeemoja
Posted November 07, 2009 05:21 PM

Every death is lamentable whether by assaniation, accident, murder, massacre name it. Njuguna's family are hurt and pole sana. I believe they should join hands with other families of "mungiki" victims and pray the group owns up and mend its ways. The pain of people losing their loved ones this way must stop.

Submitted by iko711
Posted November 07, 2009 04:29 PM

One mungiki dies and the human rights group are on top of their voices. How comes they never say anything when mungiki slaughter innocent people? Bure kabisa

Submitted by Jabalaulia
Posted November 07, 2009 03:18 PM

I was starting to wonder when the Human Rights people would speak. It is unfortunate that Njuguna had to die but I cannot bring myself to believe that he was more human than the dozens of people who have been killed by his followers, the mungiki. With time we need to form a new Human Rights organisation which will speak for victims not self proclaimed killers!

Submitted by mbothak
Posted November 07, 2009 02:21 PM

live by the sword, die by the sword.

Submitted by Isaya Baraza
Posted November 07, 2009 01:40 PM

If Mungiki sect is outlawed then its members are also outlawed. Meaning in simple term that they have been sentenced to death in absentia. What do you expect Police to deal with an outlawed sect?

Submitted by mureithijm
Posted November 07, 2009 01:06 PM

Assuming the Police assasinated Njuguna,I wonder what Vice Chair Omar and Commissioner Anne expected Police to do.To hug him?You previously blamed them for not doing enough to protect people from Mungiki assasinations.After they have done what Kenyans expected them to do you are still complaining.You should be appointed Commisioner of Police to set an expample.Or are you in the Mungiki pay roll? Come out of your comfort zone and explain to those whom lost sons and daughters through these group.

Submitted by kakiopiyo
Posted November 07, 2009 11:53 AM

How can they call that an assassination?? As a matter of fact,this guy was leading an outlawed group that has committed some of the worst atrocities against the citizenry,therefore, there had to be a price to be paid and he paid it with his life.case closed!!

Submitted by oletiptip
Posted November 07, 2009 11:13 AM

he chose this path for himself violence be-gets violence hes followers have caused great heart ache through out this country ,now let his family feel the pain there son so readily dished. I feel nothing but joy for the demise of this man. Well done kwekwe

Submitted by mmwenyenchi
Posted November 07, 2009 10:46 AM

It’s politically chic to blame police. Mungiki isn’t some charitable organisation but an extortion gang? It can’t fire errant members. They don't have an elegant disciplinary commission that sits on Thursday afternoon for deliberations. If you’re a member and they don't like you or deem you a threat, they kill you. Are we sure Maina was running Mungiki while in jail? Could Gitau have been top dog then? Was Gitau ecstatic Maina was released? Do we know how power was handed over to Maina? Do we understand Mungiki at all? KNHRC- wiseup!

Submitted by sikujamu
Posted November 07, 2009 10:38 AM

The human rights org is just a bunch of publicity stunt. They always heckle when a major murderer succumbs to some ill fate, but when that particular culprit was instilling mayhem on others, their voices seemed to have vanished. I don't remember them condemning mungiki for their ill doings in the past or current, so please spare us the agony now.

Submitted by maches19
Posted November 07, 2009 08:35 AM

You lived by the sword and you died by the very same sword. The very same way the innocent people in Mathira were slaughtered is the very same way you died, pleading for your life!! God always heeds the cries of the innocent !!

Submitted by coldcase
Posted November 07, 2009 07:38 AM

Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword...simple..

Submitted by Edkobu
Posted November 07, 2009 05:38 AM

An example of "Justice accomplished in the streets I guess", if the gov't won't do, as always someone will do it!

Submitted by agusa2010
Posted November 07, 2009 01:26 AM

Mr. Hassan Omar, you really expect the state to provide/guarantee security for leaders of a brutal unlawful organization? Mr. Hassan sounds like he was in college recently! In fact i've always wondered if Kony lives in Tora bora mountains!

Submitted by gm1971
Posted November 07, 2009 12:43 AM

Why should a muderer get sympathy from any man with sanity. Human rights only apply to mungiki and not the hundreds of those who they kill? What is right and what is human?

Submitted by njeridiva
Posted November 06, 2009 11:13 PM

even if the slain man is a monster..(and he probably was) the manner in which he was killed is sinister...reaks of assasination...who shoots someone in the head in a crowded store over money? a civilian? me thinks not.....

Submitted by kiuri
Posted November 06, 2009 10:33 PM

I hope the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights will also say something about the "assassinations" executed by Mungiki.

Submitted by olegaita66
Posted November 06, 2009 09:26 PM

I bet some of these Human rights officials have an interest in Mungiki,how come they are always exhibiting some love for the thugs? If the Kenya police have a covert operation(kwe-kwe) against Mungiki terror gang,let be it.Njuguna was a member of a terror group that has massacred ppl,what is there to suspect whether it's kwe kwe involved in eliminating him in the interest of national security?

Submitted by swala nyeti
Posted November 06, 2009 09:21 PM

Beneficiaries of impunity are served with impunity. Deadly games.

Submitted by maugo1234
Posted November 06, 2009 09:09 PM

The death is definitely suspicious. Duty of police is to arrest and have the suspect tried in court. Summary executions can't be condoned. If the government breaks the law and promotes impunity it fosters lawlesness and impunity in the country. Why didn't they give Njenga protection as he requested for him to name the big supporters and sponsors of Mungiki. Why did they discontinue the case? Kibaki presidency is a disaster to our poor folks that are witnessing undprecedented insecurity. Why form an official execution squad, why not arrest and take people them court.

Submitted by bobcat
Posted November 06, 2009 08:57 PM

Human rights organizations i Kenya are just meal tickets.How about pressurizing Mungiki to stop butchering innocents in Central, Naii etc.Did Omar Ask Njuguna why they were harassing matatu operators or did he over look that coz their foreign sponsors only care about the govt's misdeeds?

Submitted by Kahua
Posted November 06, 2009 08:26 PM

Any time money is lost in a bank robbery in the city, police go hey-wire, helter skelter. And when a life is lost, they go spaghetti.This is how to gain the whole world but lose our soul.

Submitted by sam7
Posted November 06, 2009 08:10 PM

I do not care who killed this guy, whether the police or other criminal gangs but the world is a better place today without him. He has ordered countless killings of innocent Kenyans just because they did not agree with him or did not pay him what he was demanding from them. Others who are still killing people in the name of Mungiki should learn from this guys death and stop the baseless killings of innocent Kenyans

Submitted by mwangi Francis
Posted November 06, 2009 08:08 PM

Mr. Hassan Omar never open his mouth when Mungiki kill or put fear to inocent Kenyas, he only opens it widest when mukingiki is kill, what is he up to a sword for a sword.

Submitted by beatricem
Posted November 06, 2009 07:56 PM

mr omar and muite should tell public why live for crimal are more better than that of innocent kenyans who are being killed by mungiki.2 hell with empty ndembe

Submitted by Frank2009
Posted November 06, 2009 07:45 PM

Bizarre! We never hear of this so called “Rights Body” when the Mungiki slaughter hundreds of innocent peasants in cold blood.

Submitted by Samkenyan
Posted November 06, 2009 07:33 PM

Its tragic that Gitau died, but saddening that busy-bodies like Muite, so called human rights activists politicise everything. Whose rights do they stand for, visit those mungiki infested areas and ask those living what they undergo in the hands of this goons. An able bodied young man in his 20s demanding money from a peasant widow in her 60s. To Muites, Njogus of this country, is this how your parents raised you or is it how you are raising your children. God help kenya.

Submitted by babytatya
Posted November 06, 2009 07:11 PM

Well, you live by the sword you die by the sword, he should be grateful he died an 'honourable' death. Ok, i am still wondering, how does one bullet tear through the eye and the stomach? kwani alikuwa amekaa aje?

Submitted by wakuria
Posted November 06, 2009 07:10 PM

Wow, Kenya Police always seem to know who the assailants are yet they can never seem to arrest or gather enough evidence for a prosecution. Seems like another Mungiki death which from reading the KHRC report on extra-judicial killings, makes it obvious who the killers are.

Submitted by KORYEMA
Posted November 06, 2009 07:01 PM

Leaders in central province have failed to speak out openly of what they know about mungiki sec,now they think they can hide their past involvement in this sect through gunning these men down.let them exshaust Bible before resorting to gun which is very costly

Submitted by Jangerboy
Posted November 06, 2009 06:59 PM

May Njuguna Gitau rest in eternal Peace. No one deserves to die the way he did - of a gunman's bullet. Human life is sacred.

Submitted by whynotyou
Posted November 06, 2009 06:58 PM

it's true that he oversaw the massacre of a lot of people and probably "deserved" his fate...but two wrongs don't make a right. Violence begets more violence, the police should have arrested him or something.

Submitted by abingoben
Posted November 06, 2009 06:46 PM

I feel sorry considring that Njuguna has left behind children and a wife who dearly needed his support at this time. His killers should be condemned with the strongest term possible. However it must be noted that Njuguna presided over a cultic, criminal, ruthless and merciless gang that killed their victims without mercy. Many of his victims cried for mercy as they were led to the dungeons but their pleas fell in deaf ears. The reality is that Njuguna received a dose of his own medicine.

Submitted by frysasken
Posted November 06, 2009 06:37 PM

"Witnesses say the bullet tore through his eye and stomach, killing him instantly." Is this really possible? How could THE bullet possibly tear through his eye and stomach?

Submitted by mzee_moja
Posted November 06, 2009 06:08 PM

Mr. Omar Hassan pliz give us a break. You did not have time to meet a person who was in danger but now you have time to lay blame. Just shut up! You even do not have time when people are massacred by mungiki or even when police are bruttally murdered by criminals in the course of their duties. You really suck!!

Submitted by OROWE
Posted November 06, 2009 06:06 PM

I life lost is a big loss,but as the saying goes if u live by the sword yo die by the sword. RIP

Submitted by lulu
Posted November 06, 2009 05:53 PM

The fact that you are KNCHR does not give you the mandate to give conclusive answers before thorough investigations. Miss Njogu since you have concluded that “It was a well planned and well thought of idea that took lots of time to execute" can you please give us the facts. Did KNHCR report to the Police about Mr. Njuguna's visit to there offices? What did he say exactly during the meeting? What preventative measures did KNHCR take on behalf of the guy? After he is killed they come out and say OH ASSASSINATION!

Submitted by Chrissenior
Posted November 06, 2009 05:19 PM

No comment! Nothing seems to work here,the Mungiki nor the police.

Submitted by gietmany
Posted November 06, 2009 04:46 PM

Mr. Omar you said you were in a hurry leaving the office going where and why does it took you so long to set up and appointment and the man was clearly in a great trouble with his assailants? now you are claiming to look into it as a human right commissioner. i think there is a double standard here. it is about time people need to stopped being hypocritical about sensitives issues such as this.

Submitted by menace2society
Posted November 06, 2009 04:45 PM

Live by the sword die by the sword. Hells bells ringing, Hells Bells ringing.

Submitted by byesh
Posted November 06, 2009 04:42 PM

I sometimes don´t understand the work of human rights activist.When mungiki cause mayhem like in mathira they keep quite,but when thugs and killers are killed they blame the police.Who doesn´t know that mungiki are killers......and their man has been killed by same sword he uses to kill innocent civilians.To me i say congrats police for eliminating such elements.

Submitted by jini42
Posted November 06, 2009 04:39 PM

when the police do something stupid like this dont they think ahead and realise that Mungiki will retaliate with killing more innocent people and the cycle goes no. Why cant people just stop killing each other and talk their problems out. Killing never solved nothing.....

Submitted by keke
Posted November 06, 2009 04:38 PM

Here goes the irrelevant KNCHR again. Why do they protest only some cases of murder and not others? Are there people they protect and others they don't care about? They always jump about when something happens to Mungiki people, but never comment when innocent people surfer any kind of loss. Do they have prove that the police killed this man? If it is mere speculation, they better not poison our minds with it. Let it be their opinion until they can concretely show prove.

Submitted by mxjnprr
Posted November 06, 2009 04:38 PM

Policemen on legal duty get killed.Human Rights silent. Mungiki kills left and right. Human Rights silent. A known Mungiki gangster gets killed. Human Rights quickly gets involved. This Human Rights thing confuses me - not in kenya only but all over the world it is the same thing. Doesn't this bother those responsible for all these human rights oragnisations?

Submitted by sammundu
Posted November 06, 2009 04:24 PM

This man never hid his association with mungiki who even slaughter police officers like animals .To me it should not be an issue about who kills mungiki.the debate should actually be whether he was mungiki or not.If he was ,well its such a good ridance!

Submitted by ureaplasma
Posted November 06, 2009 04:22 PM

I thought the KNHCR has no business consorting with known criminals!

Submitted by mza
Posted November 06, 2009 04:03 PM

These KNHCR guys are a bunch of romour mongers. How they jump to conclusions is just breathtaking!

Submitted by MichaOlga
Posted November 06, 2009 03:31 PM

It's pretty likely, I should think.

Submitted by samfile
Posted November 06, 2009 02:45 PM

If Kimemia says his officers saw him argue with some people, and knowing who Njuguna Gitau Njuguna is, then does it mean they also saw the manhandling and shooting and took no action? Some logic here?

Submitted by sanghill
Posted November 06, 2009 02:12 PM

Was his life any better than those who were hacked to death in Mathira?Many heads on paper bags have been delivered by his members.He left the world the way he has been doing to others.It is time to end impunity in our beloved country.