The widows of the three men who were executed at Mutoho village along Kenol-Murang'a road on September 9, 2024 now want Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki to issue a public statement about the incident.
Francis Maingi, 46, Michael Kimando ,36, and Kennedy Mwangi, 31, were shot dead by gunmen believed to be police officers.
Their widows, Jane Wanjiru Maingi, Jacinta Wanjiku Kimando and Lydia Wangari Mwangi say the circumstances under which their husbands met their deaths strongly puts the Interior Ministry on the spotlight.
The widows wondered how the Interior Ministry is yet to issue a public statement two weeks after the heinous murders.
"It is only in a gangland that has no functional or has incapacitated government where a dozen people who are not police can show up along a busy highway, pump three people with 27 bullets and melt into thin air," their joint statement dated September 22, 2024 reads in part.
This is even after Murang'a South Directorate of Criminal Investigations' boss Mr John Kanda released a statement on September 10, 2024 saying the government had nothing to do with the killings.
Mr Francis Maingi Mwaura. He was one of three men who were gunned down mysteriously by unknown men in Mutoho, Murang'a County, on September 9, 2024.
Photo credit: Mwangi Muiruri | Nation Media Group
"That incident happened within my jurisdiction and it had nothing to do with my officers. We are investigating the incident in a bid to first identify the victims, figure out the motive behind their murder and I will soon offer an official version of the same," Mr Kanda told Nation.Africa on September 10, 2024.
He explained that police officers who visited the crime scene recovered an imitation of a pistol believed to have been in possession of the deceased trio.
On September 13, 2024 Mr Kanda reported back that the DCI had finally ascertained the identities of the victims, contacted their next of kin but was yet to establish the identity of the killers.
However, he said two of the three victims were profiled criminals who had active court cases at Thika and Kenol Law courts.
He added that the three were suspected to have been in the process of preparing to commit multiple felonies at the time of their murder.
According to a postmortem report released on September 16, 2024, Maingi and Kimando had been shoot 10 times each on the head while Mwangi had been shot seven times on the head, all at close range.
The coffin bearing the remains of Kennedy Mwaura Mwangi during the burial ceremony in Kabati town on September 18, 2024.
Photo credit: Mwangi Muiruri | Nation Media Group
The postmortem report further stated that the impacts of the shooting tore the victim’s skins and crashed their skulls, killing them instantly.
Maingi was the first to be buried in Maragi village, Kiharu constituency on September 17, 2024 followed by Mwangi who was buried on September 18, 2024 in Gatanga constituency. Kimando was buried in Tetu sub-County on September 20, 2024.
On Sunday, Mr Kanda, to the chagrin of the widows, insisted that the DCI was yet to establish the identities of the killers and their motive.
“We are still investigating, we are yet to identify the killers and their motive,” he said.
The widows said the behaviour of the DCI regarding the incident is suspicious “especially measured with reality of the public outcry of extrajudicial killings, abductions, enforced disappearances and use of security instruments to persecute others.”
The widows accused the government of treating the issue casually despite the fact that three families have been left without their breadwinners.
Bishop Henry Asava preaches at the ceremony of Michael Kimando Maina who was gunned on September 9, 2024 in Murang'a County.
Photo credit: Mwangi Muiruri | Nation Media Group
While three eulogies of the deceased listed six children (Kimando's three, Mwangi's two and Maingi's one), Ms Wanjiru independently told Nation.Africa that her husband (Maingi) had more than 20 children sired with other women and that he was providing for all of them.
The three widows have also urged the Independent Police Oversight Authority (Ipoa) to take up the issue and explore possibilities of police involvement in the murders.
Meanwhile, High Court Advocate Geoffrey Kahuthu said the incident has exposed the security situation in the area.
“The DCI has no wriggling space and it must tell the families of the three victims who killed them. Serious crimes like robbery and murder are for the DCI to take full responsibility and bring the perpetrators to book,” Mr Kahuthu said.
“If the police were not involved then it means there is a major national security issue of an armed gang that is in possession of dangerous arsenal and is roaming Murang'a roads in search of people to murder,” he added.
