Wagalla: Witness pleads for time
Empty seats at the National Health Insurance Fund building where the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission hearings on the Wagalla massacre failed take place after a key witness pleaded for more time to organise his testimony. June 23, 2011. PHOEBE OKALL
The public hearings by the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) regarding the Wagalla Massacre was Thursday put off after a key witness pleaded for more time to organise his testimony.
The public had already taken their places at the NHIF auditorium when officials of the Commission announced that Lt. Colonel (rtd) Hastings Frank Muhindi would not be testifying.
Mr Muhindi served as a member of the Provincial Security Committee when 57 people were killed by state officers at the Wagalla airstrip, North Eastern province.
He will now take up the witness stand Friday when the hearings resume, according to TJRC officials.
“The witness was not ready to take to the witness stand. He has pleaded for time until tomorrow,” an official of the Commission said.
The commission has heard evidence from several former senior government officials whose names featured prominently in the Northern Kenya public hearings over the Wagalla Massacre.
They include former finance minister David Mwiraria, former NACADA boss and one time Provincial Commissioner Joseph Kaguthi, former Chief of General Staff Joseph Kibwana, former TJRC chairman Bethuel Kiplagat, former PC Benson Kaaria and members of the then intelligence committee, Kenya Army and the Provincial Administration.
Others are James Stanley Mathenge who was the Permanent Secretary Internal Security and Provincial Administration under the Office of the President in 1984 when the incident took place.
