MPs claim slain colleague was assassinated

Kenyan members of parliament claimed on Thursday that Tony Ndilinge, the Kenya African National Union (KANU) MP murdered that morning, was the victim of a political assassination, according to media reports. Police said that Ndilinge, KANU MP for Kilome, had been dragged from his car and shot twice in the head at close range at around 5 am on Thursday morning. The killer drove off in Ndilinge’s four-wheel drive vehicle - the only car spotted at the murder scene - which has since been recovered. Nairobi police chief, Geoffrey Mwathe, told the ‘Daily Nation’ that it seemed clear that Ndilinge’s killer or killers were his passengers. Ndilinge was the first politician to be murdered in Kenya for over a decade.

The ‘Daily Nation’ quoted Yatta MP Francis Chole as saying that robbery could not have been the motive for the killing as more than Ksh 20,000 (over US $250) was found on Ndilinge’s body. Recent pleas by Ndilinge that his life was in danger had been ignored, Chole added. However, Reuters quoted Mikewa Ogada, programme officer at the Kenya Human Rights Commission, as saying: “This killing today may well have been an ordinary crime with no political ramifications whatsoever. It was 5 am and it was in a bad area.” Ndilinge was killed in the Githurai suburb of Nairobi, one of the city’s most dangerous places, Reuters reported.

Ndilinge had twice said he feared for his life at the hands of political rivals during the current parliamentary session, according to news reports. He first claimed his life was in danger in May 1999, after being sacked from his post as junior minister for trade. He had been a member of parliament since 1992 and was once a prominent rebel in President Daniel arap Moi’s ruling KANU party, the BBC reported.