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Yesterday In Parliament: Twenty Six MPs Defend Nyachae
- Details
- Published on Monday, 23 July 2007 00:48
The Kanu and opposition legislators, who attended the funeral of their South Mugirango counterpart Enock Magara during which Prof Ongeri was attacked, said neither Mr. Nyachae nor his family members were to blame for the chaos.
The Government should stop "persecuting and harassing Mr. Nyachae and his family", they said at Parliament Buildings during a press conference, led by Ford-Kenya leader Wamalwa Kijana.
Kitui Central MP Charity Ngilu said: "The Government should leave Mr. Nyachae's children out of the Ongeri saga. Being a politician, Mr. Nyachae may be criticised, but not his children." She added: "Prof Ongeri got what he deserved. He walked into the burial ceremony with so much hubris and arrogance. By blaming Mr. Nyachae for the incident, he is just trying to win public sympathy."
Some of the MPs spoke of how they met Prof Ongeri supervising youths boarding lorries parked by the roadside near Keroka town on the burial day. The youths were later ferried to the funeral's venue.
"I was driving with (Nyeri Town MP) Mr. Wanyiri Kihoro when we saw Mr. Ongeri addressing youths near Keroka. These are the same young men with whom he had arrived and caused mayhem at the burial," said Kinangop MP Mwangi Waithaka.
He spoke of a scheme by Prof Ongeri and his group to cause confusion at the funeral to pave the way for the assassination of the Leader of Official Opposition, Mr. Mwai Kibaki. "The plan was to cause confusion, in the course of which Mr. Kibaki would have been shot and Mr. Nyachae blamed for it," he added.
The treatment being meted out to Mr. Nyachae's family is political harassment and witch-hunting.
The MPs, who included Kanu's Kipkalya Kones, Kipruto Kirwa, Jimmy Angwenyi and Zebedeo Opore, expressed outrage at "the enthusiasm" with which the police had gone about pursuing Mr. Nyachae's supporters and family members.
Mr. Kones claimed the Government was out to use the violence to besmirch its critics's names, citing The Kenya Times's lead story on Tuesday, which claimed that he was overjoyed by the violence meted out to Prof Ongeri.
"We testify that what befell Prof Ongeri was a spontaneous and uncoordinated attack mainly caused by the behaviour of the Minister," said the MPs, 20 of whom attended the press conference.
"The unmitigated targeting and harassment of one family in Kisii (Mr. Nyachae's) merely because he is a public figure known to diasgree with Prof Ongeri as well as a government critic leaves a lot to be desired," they said.
Mr. Wamalwa - who chaired the party that sponsored Mr. Magara in Parliament - said there was nothing strange about the violence witnessed at the burial. "Like all funerals of public figures who have died in circumstances of political suspicion, Magara's burial could not possibly have been without controversy," said the Saboti MP.
He cited the case of assassinated former Minister Tom Mboya whose burial violence was of shocking proportion.
The MPs who attended the press conference included: Ngenye Kariuki, Mr. Mutua Katuku, Mr. Henry Obwocha, Mr. Stephen Ndichu, Mr. Mutahi Muhika, Dr Newton Kulundu, Mr. Soita Shitanda, Mrs Beth Mugo, Mr. Phillip Gitonga, Mr. Moses Muihia and Dr Shem Ochuodho.
