Mungiki Leader Maina Njenga: Why They Want Me Dead

The Star

Former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga says a number of top government officials want to kill him over a matter arising from one of the Kenyan cases at the International Criminal Court.

Speaking from his hospital bed at Avenue Hospital, Nairobi, yesterday, Njenga said these officials want him dead because he refused to record a statement and become a witness in one ICC case.

In a statement to police seen by the Star, Njenga identified Nairobi politician Ferdinand Waititu as the go-between for the unnamed officials, saying the latter had approached him with a view to persuading him to become a witness.

Njenga is recuperating from an attack by unidentified gunmen at Kari Farm, Nyahururu, last weekend.

“It is not about land, and, for your information, Mungiki no longer exists; some people are pursuing me to eliminate me through calculated moves after I refused to record the ICC statements”, said Njenga.

According to Njenga, people are being murdered in other areas and buried in Kitengela so as to stir tensions in a strategy that is part of a plot to finish him.

Njenga said that before he was shot at last Saturday, his guards had spotted a number of men who took photos of his house and the vehicle he was using hours before the incident.

“One of my aides, who died in the incident, saw these men and met them in the Olkalao area – and when he asked them who they were, they referred to themselves as police officers in a crew”, said Njenga.

Njenga said he is aware the police have hired what he described as a specialized crew whosemission is to assassinate selected persons that the government feels are a nuisance.

“We decided to quit Mungiki and reform, we believe in the living God and we are not turning back, that is why He has been on my side, and, for sure, the truth shall prevail for the world to know”, he said.

He reiterated that allegations he was fighting with his brother for control of landholdings in Kitengela were false and in bad faith, aiming to create division among family members.

In a police statement seen by the Star, Njenga claimed that three vehicles had followed his convoy of two cars for some time before the shooting ambush.

The copy of the statement read in part: “I had recorded a statement at Nairobi Area [police] that my life was in danger and that I was suspicious after Mr. Waititu Ferdinand had approached me to make a statement as a witness in the ICC cases at The Hague.

“I had told him that during the violence I was in prison and so I could not make a statement. He told me that if I did not make the statement I would die mysteriously”.

The fingers of Njenga’s left hand were grazed by a bullet and are still heavily bandaged, but all indications are he will soon leave Avenue and be referred to outpatient services.