Tears as activist is buried

• Mourners point fingers at police over King’ara death

Slain human rights activist Oscar Kamau King’ara was buried on Saturday in a sombre ceremony at his father’s farm in Muchatha, Kiambu District.

Family and friends eulogised King’ara as a man who always set out to do what he wanted.

His widow Nancy said: “I am very proud of my husband. Twenty years from now, when my children ask me who their father was, I will confidently tell them he was a man who did what he believed in.”

“I believe that Oscar has walked to his destiny,” she said.

But his mother, who was burying a second child felled by the bullet in just six months, was devastated. Her daughter Hannah King’ara was shot alongside 13 other Kenyans in Moshi, Tanzania, by police last year.

King’ara, who ran the Oscar Foundation, was 38 at the time of his death. He was shot by unknown assailants on State House road alongside his assistant Paul Oulu. Their death sparked an outcry from human rights activists and university students.

He campaigned against extra-judicial killings but died he died in an incident described by many as an execution.

He left two daughters, Natalie and Naima, who seemed lost in the sea of grief that engulfed Muchatha on Saturday.

Every person who spoke described Mr King’ara as a man who went out of his way to ensure justice for the poor. Many of the speakers, who included human rights activists, politicians, relatives and clerics, vowed to push on with the quest for justice for the poor that King’ara was known for.

Reading a statement on behalf of the family, his brother Michael King’ara called on the government to investigate his death.
“How many more do we expect to be killed the same way?” he asked.

Before the speeches started, the master of ceremonies had called on the speakers to steer clear of politics and encourage the family.

However, the first speaker, Kepta Ombati – who was speaking on behalf of the civil society – accused the police of killing King’ara and trying to cover it up.

“Mr Kamau was executed by the state and not hooligans as the police want us to believe,” he said.

Former Kabete MP Paul Muite called on the government to have international police help in the investigation, saying the “police cannot investigate themselves”.

Area MP Stanley Githunguri promised to educate the two girls.