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Members of the Kiambu County Assembly want a Member of Parliament arrested over the fatal shooting of a boda boda rider in Thika last week.

The ward reps also called on Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki to beef up Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi’s security, claiming that the county chief’s life was under threat from ongoing political wrangles over construction of markets.

This comes as Governor Wamatangi revealed that he may have been the target of physical harm during the incident at Kiganjo in Kamenu ward where 26-year-old David Nduati was shot dead and several other people injured.

Violence broke out last Friday when four MPs among them National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah (Kikuyu), the host Alice Ng’ang’a, GG Kagombe (Gatundu South) and Njoroge Kururia (Gatundu North) led a group to the site of a proposed new market where area MCA Peter Mburu was supervising construction of sheds, sparking chaos.

In the ensuing melee, an MP is reported to have drawn his pistol and fired several times at the crowd. A number of people were shot, including 46-year-old Anthony Kamau who had a bullet lodged in his chest.

Wamatangi now says the Friday chaos was a plot on his life by some of the lawmakers targeting him politically as feuding over the construction of markets intensified.

Speaking while issuing bursary cheques at Cianda, Karuri and Ndenderu wards in Kiambaa Sub-County, the Governor said there has been previous attempts to harm him, and in some instances, plan chaos and link it to him.

“It beats logic why a leader should draw his gun and shoot unarmed people, yet these are the same people who elect us to positions of power,

“I am aware some of these leaders who move across the county as a group inciting people against me have been holding meetings at night to plan violence in meetings which I was to attend including one in Githurai 45 area and possibly have me harmed,” said Wamatangi.

While condemning the incident, he said politics of violence and bloodshed have no place in the county and called on police to arrest and charge the killer of innocent young man.

Wamatangi’s call came even as Members of the Kiambu County Assembly continued to mount pressure on the Inspector General of Police to arrest the MP while voicing concerns over the delay in charging the MP for the shooting.

The MCAs also want the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to question all the four MPs who were present during the shooting incident.

Addressing a press conference at the County Assembly, the MCAs led by Majority Leader Godfrey Mucheke (Kalimoni) and Chief Whip Nelson Munga (Ndeiya), demanded justice for the slain man’s family, stating that the police are dragging their feet on the matter.

Overwhelming evidence

The MCAs claimed there was overwhelming evidence against the legislator in the shooting incident and that besides being charged with murder, he should have the weapon withdrawn.

“This man is a threat to the public. If he can shoot people in broad daylight, what can’t he do at night? Let the gun be withdrawn and the man put behind bars because this is not the first time he has misused the firearm,” said Mucheke.

Assembly Minority Leader Joe Kigara told the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) not to drag their feet on the matter and charge the suspected killer forthwith.

He also warned MPs against interfering with functions of the county government like construction markets which has been a bone of contention in Kiambu where the former has been launching such projects across the devolved region.

Meanwhile, the family of the slain boda boda rider has called for postponement of an autopsy on his body until a private pathologist is involved.

Ward rep Mburu told journalists that the family lawyer Ndegwa Njiru had advised against the post mortem which was to be conducted on Monday at the General Kago Funeral Home in Thika, until they involve an independent pathologist.

Police sources indicated that violence broke out when Mburu supporters started pelting stones at the MPs and their supporters.  “The actual confrontation started when the MP Ng’ang’a and her supporters began erecting a sign post indicating the market area where the MCA supporters were already doing preliminary structures. The MCAs group began pelting stones on the MP and her entourage. The MP’s group retreated as police were tackling the rival group with teargas,” police sources said.

 In the ensuing melee, Nduati lost his life while others among them MPs Kagombe and Ng’ang’a escaped with unspecified injuries before they were driven to safety.