Tears as JM Kariuki's kin narrate ordeal to TJRC

A sombre mood engulfed hearings at the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission on Monday as the family of the late JM Kariuki narrated their ordeals following his disappearance and his eventual death.

TJRC commissioners and members of the public were moved to tears as his daughter Rosemary Machua and son Tony Muchiri gave their accounts.

Teary commissioners promised to ensure that the family received justice for the assassination of the former MP and assistant minister.

They said that from what they had heard, the family would only achieve healing if the murder was totally resolved.

“We did not want you to go through the kind of anguish and pain that you have gone through as you talked about your father. What we wanted was to hear from you. We understand that reconciliation and healing is key to you getting your life back to normal,” commissioner Getrude Chawatama said.

Commissioner Ahmed Farah added that it was clear that the later Kariuki was killed for political reasons due “to his ambition” of leading Kenya as president adding that what he aspired was not illegal.

Ms Machua and Mr Muchiri narrated how they had come to learn of the ordeal that their father had undergone before the murder which happened when they were 11 and 6 years old respectively.

They also put forward a list of demands that the family wanted to have done as they sought to bury the ghost of their father’s death.

Also present were the late Kariuki’s wives, Nyambura and Mwikali, his other children and several other relatives.

His children told the commission that they had gone through mental torture as they grew to learn of how their father had been killed.

“We have faced discrimination and isolation as no one wanted to be associated with the family to avoid being linked to the political course of our father and losing their lives for it. It was not until while finishing my first degree - 13 years later - that I cried and came to realise what my father had gone through,” Ms Machua said.

Holding her tears back, Ms Machua he added that the family suffered “a second assassination” that kicked off at the burial of their father and which led to them losing property and documentation to his estate.

Mr Muchiri said that the family was forced to pay off loans that their father had accrued and yet their land in Ol Kalau and Gilgil had been invaded by squatters.

He added that the government is yet to offer any update or challenges that have been faced in any investigations that have been conducted.

“We are asking that the government pay for the salaries that our father could have received as MP from 1975 to 1979. We believe that if he was alive to the world how would have risen to great heights in politics and business for the benefit for his family and this country,” an emotional Mr Muchiri said.

Former MP Mark Muthaga narrated how a parliamentary committee sought to resolve the murder but could not due to various obstacles.

He narrated how former President Moi, then vice-president to Kenyatta, was misled to tell Parliament that the later Kariuki had gone to Zambia then Tanzaia where he boarded a plane to an unknown destination.

He also said that a group of women was at the mortuary to pick Mr Kariuki’s body when his family and MPs got there to confirm that it was his body. He said that the body had a tag “an unclaimed body of a luo gangster”.

“JM Kariuki’s death was a massive cover up by the government and security forces. It was evident that there was bad blood between former President Kenyatta and Mr Kariuki. When vice-president Moi discovered that he had been misled through an official statement, he wiped told Parliament that the country would be in trouble if the reports on JM’s death were true,” Mr Muthaga said.

He asked the TJRC to seek an appointment with President Kibaki who he said was the only minister who attended the late Kariuki’s burial.

He said that the president could shed more light on what had transpired.