Thika Teachers Call For Mass Action To Seek Justice For Their Colleague Shot In Sunday’s Violence.

Thika KNUT Secretary addressing the press at General Kago Funeral Home after identifying the body of John Njuguna. Accompanying him are family, friends and colleagues.

Thika teachers have given the police a 24 hour ultimatum to reveal the killers of John Njuguna Mwangi, a teacher at Thika Barracks Primary School, who was shot dead on Sunday evening immediately after the launch of Muigai Wa Njoroge’s album ‘Wakwa Wa Muico’ at the Thika Stadium.

Speaking at the General Kago Funeral Home after identifying the body of the deceased, two days after the actual incident, Thika Branch Executive Secretary Joe Mungai Ngige said that it was quite unfortunate that the police never bothered to contact the deceased next of kin even though the victim had all identification documents with him.

“We are mourning one of the greatest Mathematics teachers I have ever worked with. It is unfortunate that his body has been lying in the morgue since Sunday yet he had (identification) documents with him, yet no one bothered to contact his next of kin. We are giving the police 24 hours to tell us who shot him otherwise on Thursday we are going to take to the streets and demand for justice,” said Mungai.

He wondered how the police or whoever shot him, had to use live bullets to disperse a crowd. He also demanded that those politicians who were in the event to join the teachers in demanding for justice otherwise, they stood to be assumed to be part of the killers.

Mungai claimed that according to the intelligence they had been able to gather so far, the body of the deceased was taken to the morgue by the police, after lying on the road for quite a long time.

“We are dealing with a very irresponsible police force who should have first and foremost taken good care of the victim before anything else. But I believe their priorities were upside down,” he quipped.

According to his colleague Mary Wambui Kabugi who was the last person to be with the deceased, Njuguna and his colleagues boarded a bus from Kenyatta Road to Thika after a group meeting where he is the treasurer at around 5:30pm. On arrival at about 5:56pm, he excused himself to attend a Christian convention at Destiny Church near Munene Industries. That was the last time anyone ever heard of him.

John Ngugi Mburu, the group’s chairperson, says that he received a call from the deceased’s wife on Monday Morning informing him of her missing husband. She informed him that even after reporting the matter to the Thika Police, they offered her no tangible help.

“I called the wife again at around 8:30am yesterday to inquire about the progress. She informed me that the police were taking her in rounds and were not in any way telling her about the missing person other than just recording her statement. So, this morning (Tuesday) at around 8, she called me again to confirm that Njuguna’s body had been identified at this morgue,” said the chairman of Smart Shiners, the group that composes of teachers from Thika, Ruiru and Gatundu.

At the time of this interview, the wife to the deceased could not compose herself to give her account of the story.

Responding to the allegations, Thika OCPD Erastus Muthamia said reports at their disposal indicate that one person, a victim of the Sunday violence, was rushed by well-wishers to Thika Level 5 Hospital but unfortunately died at the casualty department as he was awaiting to be attended.

“Our officers were trying to protect innocent wananchi from being mugged by some groups of youth who were causing chaos along Kenyatta Highway. We have confirmed with the hospital authorities that they received only one casualty and not two as people were alleging. We are waiting for the post-mortem results to ascertain whether he was killed by a bullet. We are trying to find out who were responsible for the violence and if any of them could have possessed any firearms. We are therefore for calm as we await the report,” said Muthamia.

He denied that his officers ever used any live bullets to quell the violence said that they only used teargas to disperse the rowdy youth. He added that they have six suspects in their custody in relation to the unfortunate incident and they were investigating to ascertain if there were political connection to the violence.

Reports going round indicate that two people were died in the Sunday incident, one from gun wound and the other following a knife attack by the thugs. Sources say that the one who died of knife wounds had attempted to save a young lady who was being mugged by a group of youth. In the process, one youth stabbed him on the neck and fell on a trench on the roadside. He is said to have been rushed by well-wishers to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

  

The sources also indicate that there was another victim of gunshot who was lying in the middle of Kenyatta Highway the police took to General Kago Funeral Home in their land cruiser.

Meanwhile, reports reaching our news desk indicate that the scheduled teachers’ demo to protest against the shooting of Mr. Njuguna has been called off until a postmodern report has been received.