Uncomfortable truths on George Muchai murder probe

Reading, watching and listening to media reports, one would be forgiven for thinking that three Saturdays ago only George Muchai fell to a gunman’s bullets on Kenyatta Avenue near General Post Office in Nairobi’s central business district.

No, three other people were also killed that morning in bursts of gunfire!

If you believe we are all equal before Almighty God, then you now know we are not equal before the almighty media, all-seeing government and an outraged public.

When a high profile person is killed, there is intense heat and pressure all round, fuelling a massive demand for quick arrests.

Muchai was a Member of the National Assembly, a trade unionist and a businessman.

His driver and two bodyguards were also killed in the heart of the capital.

But it is the MP for whom all and sundry, loudly and passionately, have sought swift investigations, swifter arraignment of culprits and the swiftest of justice.

It is Muchai who was eulogised by President Kenyatta as an anti-graft campaigner felled for his crusade. It is Muchai who was lionised by Labour Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kazungu Kambi as fighting corruption in the umbrella Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu). MPs joined in, decrying insecurity and demanding more protection.

Naturally, the bereaved, who, beginning with the immediate family, are the most affected, have attracted great sympathy. They, too, have sought justice.

Therefore, pressure on the government as the protector, and on the police in particular, has been enormous, pervasive and unrelenting.

LOGICAL WAY

In such circumstances, police face the choice of either going about their work diligently and painstakingly, ignoring the demand for immediate arrests, or moving fast to appease the demand of the family, public and VIPs for swift arrest and swifter arraignment of culprits.

The first is the logical way to go, but it is unpopular in the circumstances.

There is a great danger of police taking the second route and arresting and arraigning a suspect by popular demand. The danger is that politicians, in particular, could force the hand of investigators in a given, expedient direction.

Little wonder that some politicians want Cotu boss Francis Atwoli blamed for Muchai’s murder.

How sincere is Mr Kambi? He publicly said he would resign if the people who killed Muchai were not arrested.

Having said that Muchai was fighting corruption in Cotu and given that Mr Kambi and Mr Atwoli had not seen eye to eye on a single issue since the former’s appointment in 2013, it was clear the CS wanted him nailed.

That Mr Atwoli and Mr Kambi had an acrimonious falling out over the National Social Security Fund (NSSF)-sponsored Tassia housing scheme is indisputable and squarely in public domain.

That Muchai was Mr Atwoli’s deputy in Cotu and that they had a very public and even more acrimonious falling out is not in doubt. So, how apolitical is Mr Kambi?

The CS did not talk about the fact that Mr Atwoli fingered him as the architect of the corrupt Tassia deal.

Mr Kambi did not tell those who gathered to mourn Muchai that Mr Atwoli consistently and persistently maintains that the CS would not pass a good governance test. So, how impartial is Mr Kambi if he has an axe to grind?

Mr Atwoli has publicly asked: Who between Kambi and Atwoli is corrupt?

HIGHLY UNLIKELY

It is a fact that Mr Kambi backed the registration of a national workers union to rival Cotu and, therefore, clip Mr Atwoli’s wings.

This happened after the revelations about Tassia. By the way, did not Mr Muchai and Mr Kambi warm to each other after Muchai fell out with Mr Atwoli?

So, would Mr Kambi be ready or willing to accept an arrest and arraignment that did not point the prosecution in the direction of Mr Atwoli?

The answer is: highly unlikely. Does that not suggest that Mr Kambi would favour a conviction-led, rather than prosecution-based, inquiry into the death of Mr Muchai? The answer is: highly likely.

Therein lies the problem: Mr Kambi’s perorations were unhelpful in the immediate tense and volatile atmosphere surrounding Mr Muchai’s death. They poisoned the environment and could have served as a red herring.

Police must be given room to painstakingly investigate Mr Atwoli to give Mr Kambi reason to condemn him.

Mr Opanga is a media consultant [email protected]