Nairobi News

NewsWhat's Hot

NGILU: Former mayor died my death, I was the target


Former Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu has narrated how she narrowly escaped death in the Friday accident which claimed her staunch ally and one time Mayor of Kitui municipality Martha Mwangangi.

In an interview at her Ithookwe rural home where she is recuperating from the shock, Mrs Ngilu told Sunday Nation that she was a target of assassination and that the former Mayor died her death.

Mrs Ngilu said she was yet to come to terms with the heartbreaking images she witnessed of the gory and bloody body of her close friend of 30 years lying on the tarmac, with internal organs strewn all over.

“I emerged from Kitui police station and I was walking towards my car which was parked outside, I heard people shout and the next thing I found myself lying on the fence having been thrown there by my bodyguard,”  she said.

The Narc leader said at first she did not understand what was happening because she had just concluded a fruitful meeting with senior police officers and boda boda leaders and the protesting hawkers had long dispersed.

TREATED FOR SHOCK

“Everyone was scampering for safety and I could hear cries of Martha amekanyagwa (Martha has been trampled upon), I could not believe my eyes when I saw someone under a moving fire-fighting engine,” she said.

“The incident happened in a split second. Martha was beside me as we walked out of the station to our cars, the truck charged into us immediately and I only survived by grace of God” she said amid tears.

The former Cabinet secretary who was treated for shock at a local hospital said she believes the truck driver knew what he was doing because he could see the crowd from a distance and had all the time to slow down.

“If I wasn’t the target, why did he take a turn like he was entering the station and then speed off after driving into the crowd and crushing the mayor?” she posed.

Mrs Ngilu said in her political career spanning more than 20 years, Friday was her saddest day watching her best friend killed mercilessly after peaceful protest.

Mrs Mwangangi served as the councillor of Kitui township ward for three consecutive terms.