{UAH} Maina Njenga gave ICC statement in Botswana | The Star
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Maina Njenga gave ICC statement in Botswana
FORMER Mungiki leader Maina Njenga recorded a statement with ICC investigators about the 2007-08 post-election violence in Botswana.
"Let people know that they want to kill me because of the case against Uhuru at the ICC. Sometime back, officials from the ICC sought me. The court officials asked me to say what i knew about the violence but I told them I knew nothing because I was in prison," Njenga said.
"They told me that I just say what I knew before I recorded a statement, but the court has not confirmed to me if I am a witness. This attack is very much related to the ICC case," Njenga said.
He was speaking to the press from his hospital bed at Avenue Hospital in Parklands.
Njenga revealed that, when the ICC insisted, he volunteered to record his statement on condition that it was done outside the country.
He then flew to Gaborone in Botswana where he recorded his statement but said he has not been called to testify and does not intend to do so. He said he could not remember the date that he went to Botswana.
Njenga said his troubles began two weeks ago when he was summoned to the Kajiado county headquarters by the County Security Committee.
"They wanted to know how my church was doing and the news about what I said about fearing for my life. They asked me about my relationship with President Uhuru Kenyatta before and after the elections, my relationship with Raila Odinga and they also wanted to know why I had attended a meeting in Kitengela with Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, Turkana Governor Joseph Nanok and Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba. I informed them I did so because I was a member of Cord," Njenga said.
"I told them that no members of my Hope Ministries church is involved in any land tussle and, as far as I know, the land in question belongs to the East African Portland Cement Company and a white man," the former Mungiki leader told the Kajiado security committee
Njenga said that he was in prison when former Mungiki members travelled out of the country and recorded statements implicating Uhuru.
Last Saturday Njenga was shot in an ambush near Nyahururu. Njenga's wife, nephew and three other people died in the ambush.
He said that he traveled to Nakuru in a convoy and spent Friday night in an incomplete house in Nakuru while the rest of his team slept in Lanet.
A friend, Dickson Mwangi, told him that a Senior Superintendent had warned that police had been instructed to arrest him.
The next morning they left for Nyahururu but at Ol Kalou they spotted an Xtrail car parked on the right side of the road with six people pretending to be fixing a puncture.
His driver informed him that the people had been seen at Njenga's Kitengela home taking pictures.
The men accosted them and identified themselves as policemen on patrol before they overtook their car.
At Ol Kalou Njenga's two vehicles initially did not get fuel in two petrol stations but on their way back they found the Xtrail at the first petrol station which now had fuel.
Njenga's team fueled their cars and bought airtime before continuing with their journey until a deserted stretch with farmland on both sides.
" In the rear view mirror, I noticed three cars including the second car on our convoy speeding towards us. The Xtrail and another double cabin car were pursuing the Toyota Premio on our convoy then I saw the occupant of the Xtrail shooting at the Premio," Njenga said.
"The other vehicle approached us fast and despite the driver trying to increase speed, they caught up with us and shot my driver. Blood from the driver splattered on me and I noticed that there were many other gunmen laying in ambush on both sides of the road. I heard a lot of gunshots and then our car rolled several times," Njenga narrated.
He said that he pretended to be dead when the gunmen approached his Subaru Forester car.
One gunman prodded him with a stick before saying "Crew, tumemaliza kazi, twende" (Crew, we have finished our job, let's go).
Njenga said that the killers waited until the administration police officers arrived before leaving.
"This were not laymen who were chancing. These were well trained people sent to kill me," he said.
"I only survived because there was a lot of blood on me and my fingers were badly injured. I lay with my head on the dashboard pretending i was dead. I only woke up when I saw members of public trying to pry open the door to rescue us," Njenga said.
He accused government officials of spreading propaganda that the shooting was linked to infighting over land between Mungiki factions. He said that he only owns thirty acres in Kitengela.
Njenga's brother John Njoroge, the supposed leader of a faction fighting over Mungiki property, was present in the hospital and said that he is preparing to bury those killed during the incident.
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