Lilian Waithera, 47, was shot dead in Nairobi city centre as she was walking home from work.
By Simon Ciuri
Nation Media Group
"You robbed us of a heroine. You robbed our boys of their mother. Whether it was intentional or not, the law will catch up with you one day.” These words were written by Mr Paul Njine Mbogo, addressed to the person who murdered his wife, Mary Lilian Waithera.
The former junior relationship officer at the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) was shot dead in downtown Nairobi on February 13 last year.
But justice has been elusive with not a single arrest made since Waithera was shot from an elevated angle on Kaunda Street in Nairobi. Police, through Director of Criminal Investigations Amin Mohammed, have since dismissed claims that a sniper shot and killed the woman who was walking home in the company of a colleague.
Lilian Waithera who was shot dead on February 13, 2023 in Nairobi Central Business District on Kaunda street.
“From my experience, I would say that this was not the work of a sniper. Snipers usually choose rifles with longer barrels for accuracy; the shorter the barrel, the shorter the accuracy. So if a sniper really wanted to eliminate her, he would not have used a pistol," Mr Amin told Nation on February 22, 2023, just over a week after Waithera’s death.
Nation now understands from police sources that detectives leaked a fake story to the media that an arrest had been made in Kenol in Murang'a County to assuage public angst in the wake of the shocking murder.
Police had claimed that the suspect was released after it was established that he was a licensed gun owner and had no connection to the murder.
The motive, our police sources said, was to show that a breakthrough had been made and the public would buy the narrative that investigators were working tirelessly to catch the killer.
“A lot of questions were being asked and it was reflecting badly on the police, but I can tell you for a fact that no one was arrested and released," our source said yesterday.
Another police source told us that the man the police claimed to have arrested for interrogation was a regular visitor to the building from where Waithera is believed to have been shot and was a licensed firearm holder.
When Nation contacted Mr Mohammed on phone yesterday for his comment on the status of investigations, he didn’t respond to calls and text messages.
Speaking at Nation Centre on Monday, Mr Mbogo said the family was a bit relieved when they heard that a suspect had been arrested and were looking forward to knowing the motive behind the killing, only to have their hopes dashed in cruel fashion.
“What we are wondering is, with all the technology the government has, are they still unable to know who killed my wife?” Mr Mbogo posed.
And in Kiambu County, the script is the same for the family of Sudhir Shah, a Thika tycoon who was shot dead in Juja Sub-county two years ago.
Mr Shah was in the company of five unnamed investors who wanted to buy 150 acres in Ndarugo. He was in the company of his business partner, Mr Francis Michuki, and Mr Michuki's bodyguard Jesse Kariuki, when two men riding on a motorbike shot Mr Shah dead. No one else was injured and nothing was stolen. Mr Michuki is the son of former Internal Security minister John Michuki, who died in February 2012.
The land the investors wanted to buy is registered under Ndarugo Plantation 1960 Limited. They were seeking to establish a special economic zone in the area that would include factories and go -downs for lease.
The 2022 Land Index released by real estate firm HassConsult in December put the value per acre in Juja at between Sh6.4 million in the lower part of the sub-county and Sh16.6 million, with the highest value close to the main road along the Thika highway at between Sh20 million and Sh22 million. This means the 150 acres had a potential estimated sale value of between Sh960 million and Sh3.3 billion.
But even before Mr Shah's cremation, the police who responded to the incident had already embarked on a cover-up. This is until the post-mortem conducted by Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor poked holes in their report claiming Mr Shah had been shot several times and that there had been a fierce exchange of gunfire.
The deceased, Dr Oduor said in his report, “was shot once with a single bullet that entered the chest cavity and ... went out through the lower back.”
The victim’s family had told Nation Mr Shah was lured to his death through the land deal.
Mr Shah’s wife Taruna had to fly out of the country fearing for her life after her husband was shot, a family member told Nation. Her mobile phone was switched off and she had not responded to our text messages by Tuesday evening.
A spot check at her Thika town home, which was put up for sale but has yet to attract a buyer, revealed that only a farmhand lived there, with neighbours saying Ms Shah was never around.
“We never went to the police to record a statement [over the death threats] because nothing came of investigations into the murder of Shah's brother, who was shot dead [near Blue Post Hotel in Thika] years ago,” the family member added. DCI Homicide Unit Head Martin Nyuguto told Nation yesterday, “I don't have any facts at the moment.”
When Nation reported how the police had bungled their preliminary investigations, a DCI detective, posing as a news source, summoned this writer to the agency’s headquarters.
In a meeting with two other sleuths, the detective said they wanted to know our sources in connection with Sudhir Shah's murder. The owners of the land the tycoon wanted to buy, they said, were concerned about the negative publicity, saying it was scaring away potential buyers. We refused to reveal our sources.
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