Imanyara’s assassination claim is a hoax

Imanyara’s claim that there is a plot to kill him is a big joke. Assassins never write letters to their targeted victims to reveal their intentions. Like lightening they just strike. All they do is murder not write letters to people they intend to kill. The fact that there have been several political assassinations in independent Kenya, however, means the country is not short of hired killers. Wilfred Njenga’s letter to Imanyara must therefore be subjected to thorough investigations though the likelihood of Njenga being a fictitious non existent person is very real.

The allegations by Gitobu Imanyara appear to be a very well calculated practical joke meant to hurt the erratic First Lady, Lucy Kibaki, a sworn enemy of the Imenti Central MP and a woman called Mary Wambui. So far, the put-up job worked wonders because no sooner were the allegations made in Parliament than the livid lady reacted with a fury of an irritated mama who could do nothing short of making empty noise. Alas! The Gitobu hurtful but still unproved assertions were made in a House protected by absolute privilege and are, therefore, not actionable. Not even the First Lady can change that quandary.

Whether they are serious or a mere bunch of shaggy dog stories, the allegations by Imanyara are as humourless as they are sombre and should be thoroughly investigated to determine their source. Rather than ordering an investigation to pin down the authors of the fabricated letter received by Imanyara, State House shockingly reacted by saying that to reply to Imanyara’s claims “is to give credence to a reckless politician who should be focusing on national issue and not specializing on attacks on innocent citizens”. All the same State House went ahead and replied to Imanyara in an outburst of verbal diarrhea. Lucy Kibaki thinks Imanyara is the author of the made up letter. The statement from State House says: “The list that Imanyara tabled in Parliament clearly shows that it is his own creation.”

There are many reasons to make anyone believe Imanyara’s letter is fake. It claims Njenga is a member of the notorious police terror force known as Kwekwe which operates under Police Commissioner Major General Hussein Ali. The letter alleges that Ali had been summoned to State House by Lucy Kibaki and given orders to kill Imanyara, Paul Muite, Martha Karua and Bonny Khaluale. Whereas it is true the Kwekwe gangsters exist in the Police force and it is also true that Lucy Kibaki behaves quite erratically at times, like when she walked into the Nation Centre and physically attacked photographer Derek Clifford or when she publicly attacked Minister George Saitoti, it is inconceivable to imagine her summoning the Police Commissioner and ordering him to kill anyone, least of all a Member of Parliament of Imanyara’s prominence.

The Speaker of the National Assembly has promised to deliver a communication from the Chair on the matter next Wednesday and it is quite likely that a special Parliamentary Committee to investigate the whole issue may be established to examine the authenticity of the letter and its content. Most likely the Committee will conclude that the letter is a fake one and was only intended to raise false alarm and ridicule the First Lady. The authors of the letter, however, will be found to have committed a serious crime of misleading the entire Parliament by seeking cheap publicity for certain leaders including Imanyara himself. This however does not mean Imanyara knows anything more than what he has already told Parliament about the letter.

If a thorough investigation is made by the Parliamentary Committee that is likely to be formed, it will be found that someone is still after Ali’s blood and would like his Kwekwe squad debated in Parliament before he is finally fired. Someone would also like to have the First Lady exposed in Parliament as a person who is mentally challenged. Doing so successfully is most unlikely as the move is sure to face a formidable opposition from Kibaki loyalists in Parliament. There may also be complicated technical hurdles that must be cleared before such a debate can be contemplated. It is also a fact that Imanyara has an axe to grind with the First Lady who once slapped him at State House. The task before the committee does not appear to be enviable.

The inclusion of Mary Wambui in the alleged list of the hit men is a direct provocation of Lucy Kibaki. If there is a name of a woman that literally makes the First Lady go round the bend, that name is Mary Wambui, the alleged wife number two of the Head of State. Kibaki becomes extremely emotional when he denies any relationship with the woman who is said to be a mother of his illegitimate daughter. The drama that the country has witnessed from State House caused by Mary Wambui is what makes Wilfred Njenga’s letter even more ridiculous when he claims Lucy Kibaki wants the Police Commissioner eliminate the poor woman. The story is too thrilling to be true. The most spine-tingling tale of a jealous woman in love is simply meant to ridicule Lucy Kibaki.

Wilfred Njenga also involves the name of the Head of the Civil Service, Francis Muthaura, as one of the people giving orders for the assassinations. If there is a brilliant mind in the Kibaki Administration, it is that of Francis Muthaura, who is the real power behind Mwai Kibaki’s side of the coalition Government. Muthaura operates above board with the skills of a political wizard. Those who know him well say he can never plot anyone’s physical assassination. The mere mention of his name in Imanyara’s letter strengthens the suspicion that it is a hoax.

Whoever wrote Imanyara’s letter wanted to cause more chaos in the already chaotic Central Province .At the moment the situation in that part of Kenya resembles that of the State of Emergency during the Mau Mau rebellion. Murders are committed by the Mungiki terror gangsters who are fighting Government backed Kenda Kenda bunch of hooligans. If Wilfred Njenga’s letter comes from one of these two gangsters the chances of tracing the true authors are none. But this is where the exposure of the truth about the Imanyara letter is likely to be . The letter is most likely part and parcel of internal Kikuyu political animosity.

The other name implicated in the Njenga letter is that of John Michuki. This is the cleverest trick by the authors of the fictitious letter because Michuki has been implicated in ordering the police to cause trouble in the country. This he did when he planned the invasion of the Standard when hooded policemen terrorized journalists and vandalized their offices. At that time Michuki came out in the open and claimed responsibility for police terror at the Standard . Nothing has been more costly politically to Michuki than that incident which caused him a demotion in the Kibaki Cabinet. Nothing would make Michuki repeat the same mistake. The suggestion that he can summon the Police Commissioner and give him orders to kill Imanyara is as ridiculous as it is foolish. Michuki can be accused of many things but not of being foolish.