Mr. Mwandawiro Mghanga, a former Kenyan exile, student leader and current MP for Wundanyi Constituency has said that he has nothing to do with Mungiki and that the current attempt by the government to arrest him is based on his political stand in Parliament and a plan to take him out of the scene ahead of this year’s elections.
Speaking to KSB this morning from his hide-out in Kenya, Mr. Mwandawiro said that his security has been withdrawn in a plot which, he believes, is designed to assassinate him.
“I see the withdrawal of my security as a wider plan to assassinate me. I have nothing to do with Mungiki”, he said.
“The government is deliberately trying to dirtify my name by linking me to Mungiki because of my political stand in Parliament and, strong opposition to corruption and campaigns for my people”, he told KSB. Mwandawiro has been on the frontlines in the campaign against landlessness in Wundanyi where he has organized several demonstrations demanding land re-distribution in Wundayi.
“At the moment, the government is feeling threatened because I have joined forces with Raila Odinga. On Wednesday, we were with Raila at political rallies in Kericho, Bomet, Sotik, and Kisii to campaign. I am being intimidated because of the show of unity with forces seeking to remove Kibaki from power”, he said.
MP Mwandawiro said that those committing acts of murder should be identified, arrested and taken to court to face murder charges.
“The government should not treat Mungiki as an amorphous body because members of Mungiki who are committing crimes can be identified”, he continued.
He said that what the government wants Kenyans to believe is that contacts with Maina Njenga, a rights activist, constitutes membership and support of Mungiki.
“I have, in the past visited Maina Njenga in prison because he works with Civil society. I visited him when his property was invaded sometimes back. The government should know the difference between criminals and law abiding citizens and stop tarnishing my name with Mungiki”, he told KSB.
Mwandawiro said that the government knows who was behind Mingiki and added that the current harassment and intimidation he was experiencing at the hands of the government is evidence that the Kibaki regime had failed and should be defeated at the next General elections.
“The government wants to plant a puppet in Wundanyi and it is also for this reason that my name is being tarnished using Mungiki, a sect which I know nothing about”, he said.
Mwandawiro said that his lawyers, led by Mr. James Orengo, are seeking court orders to prevent his arrest by Kenyan police.
For many Kenyans in Stockholm, Mwandawiro is a perfect example of a former Kenyan exile who returned to Kenya to practice politics and made it to Parliament. Now that he is being harassed by a government that was elected on a platform of change, it is becoming difficult to predict what will happen to former exiles like Mr. Onyango Oloo and Mr. Miguna Miguna who have returned to Kenya to rejoin the struggle for a better Kenya.
Okoth Osewe
Notes on pictures:
(L) A Kenyan is driven away to hospital in an ambulance after being beaten by another Kenyan
(R) A fracas breaks out at a Kenyan Party In Norsborg. The protagonists are being separated. Pictures: Makozewepix.
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