Governor Johnson Sakaja and late MCA Joel Munuve.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has cautioned politicians against politicising the sudden death of Kariobangi North MCA Joel Munuve.
Mr Sakaja called for patience ahead of a postmortem planned for Friday to ascertain the cause of his death.
The governor said the claim of foul play over the MCA’s death before the results of an autopsy are out was detrimental to the grieving family, friends and his colleagues.
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“Allow me to pass my deepest and sincere condolences to the people of Kariobangi North who lost their MCA, Joel Munuve. He collapsed at home. I don’t know why you call it murder, maybe you have information, but the autopsy is tomorrow,” Mr Sakaja said.
Kariobangi North MCA Joel Munuve.
He went on: “We have asked for a full investigation to understand what happened because I don’t think he had a history of illness, but we will let the professionals tell us. Death is a serious thing and is not something we can play with or politicise.”
Dagoretti South MP John Kiarie had earlier on the floor of the House termed Mr Munuve’s death as “curious.”
“The death of Joel Munuve is a curious death, especially at a time he was raising very pertinent issues about the leadership and the goings-on in City Hall,” the MP said.
He pointed out that it was curious that the MCA died “only three days after he dared to collect signatures for the impeachment of the governor of Nairobi.”
“The MCA said he was going to reveal very damning information about the goings on in City Hall, and as we are saying sorry to the family, I wish this House should stand up and call upon the investigating authorities not to gloss over this matter because it might be having very serious interests.”
But Mr Sakaja wondered why there was speculation of foul play, stating that an autopsy is due to determine the cause of death.
Already, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has taken over the probe following a request by the family of the MCA.
According to family lawyer, Danstan Omari, an agreement was reached with the police homicide department to look into the matter.
“The cause of death must be ascertained by a postmortem. Legal requirements for that are as follows: the police and the family will have to put it on the record, and the police takes up the matter,” Mr Omari said.
While addressing the media outside Lee Funeral Home, the lawyer said the family opted for a postmortem to rule out rumours being spread over the cause of his death. He also urged Kenyans not to speculate until official findings are released.
"The family requests complete silence on the cause of death until tomorrow when the pathologist gives the scientific cause. This is a young family. We should not have a big extended family, both by blood and by politics. Our appeal is to not start pointing fingers at anybody."
City Hall, the headquarters of the Nairobi City County Government.
Mr Sakaja promised thatthe county government will support the family during this difficult moment.
He described Munuve as a passionate leader, stating that even though they had their political differences, they would hold meetings and agree on some issues.
“He was very firm and very passionate about the issues he believed in. There were times we disagreed, but then there were times we also agreed, and we sat down and had meetings,” he added.
He went on: “What we are calling for is full investigations into what happened to Mheshimiwa to allay all these political speculations. We have agencies charged with those responsibilities, and I think they should do the work…if it was foul play, there must be justice.”
Munuve died on Tuesday morning.
Police Spokesperson Michael Muchiri confirmed that the meeting with Munuve's family took place and that the DCI would probe the matter.
However, he said, the police have not received anything serious surrounding the death of the MCA.
“Yes, it's true the meeting happened. The postmortem should confirm to us the cause of death. There is nothing serious that has been reported so far,” Mr Muchiri said.
Mr Kiarie, the Dagoretti South MP, however, stated, “We don’t want to place the blame anywhere but all we are asking is full investigation and no stone should be left unturned.”
“Let us not imagine that the issues he was canvassing have no connection with the sudden death of this very passionate leader.”
