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On Sunday 2nd march of 1975,the then firebrand legislator for nyandarua North popularly known as J.M kariuki was reported missing. Ten days later his body would be found at the Nairobi city mortuary. Surprisingly, some govt officials all along knew J.M was already dead.
JM knew he was living on borrowed time,before his assassination while playing darts with Nakuru town MP Mark Mwithaga,Nakuru mayor mburu Gichua stormed the hotel & told J.M that "you want to bring trouble to Nakuru,just be warned,your days are numbered,we are going to finish you
Earlier on while in Nairobi, the late G.G kariuki had whispered to J.M kariuki that a secret meeting had taken place in Nakuru and decision to eliminate him by all means was reached. The plan was first to stage a political and security scare then blame it on J.M kariuki.
According to the former special branch spy James Lando Khwatenge,J.M kariuki death was an accidental one.Even though his death was planned,his assassinators were not given a greenlight to go ahead with the elimination.A series of mixed fortune led to his death on 2nd march 1975.
JM started smelling death before he died.he planned to go to Mombasa by bus.before he started the journey he was tipped that he was trailed & cancelled the journey.Minutes before the bus he was to board left Nairobi,it exploded killing 27 passengers. JM escaped death by a whisker
The cloud of death hanging over the head of J.M kariuki never left even after escaping the Mombasa bound matatu attack that left over 27 Kenyans dead after a bomb was planted in the matatu. Less than 24 hours later, J.M was already dead. He cheated death only with hours.
Sunday 2nd March 1975 came,JM was told by his friend & GSU commandant the late Ben Gethi to go honour special branch interrogations at the kingways house located at the university way road.When JM expressed his fears over the said meeting,Ben Gethi offered to take him as a friend
Earlier,JM pistol had been withdrawn by nyandarua DC Joseph Thuo leaving JM unarmed despite death threats he had. JM told Gethi that he could not attend the special branch summons unarmed & his friend Ben Gethi offered his service pistol to JM.Together they went to kingsway house
At kingways,JM met his interrogators(remember at this juncture only Ben Gethi knows JM is armed with a pistol)Ben Gethi sat next to the door just behind his friend JM. It was in this house that the unplanned assassination of JM took place throwing a cloud of confusion in the room
In his last minutes on earth, JM during the interrogation had an argument with wanyoike Thuku (president jomo Kenyatta body guard). Wanyoike slapped JM and out of anger he drew the pistol from his pocket & aimed it at wanyoike. What followed later would determine the fate of JM.
When he drew the pistol and aimed it at the President's guy (Wanyoike), Ben Gethi knew letting JM take a shot would bring his downfall for giving JM a gun that killed the President's guy. So he hurriedly shot JM hand saving the life of wanyoike Thuku and saving his career too.
Ben Gethi knew all was to land on him if JM had killed wanyoike using the GSU commandant pistol. The president would not have taken it lightly bearing in mind wanyoike was his errand boy who had received special training in Czechoslovakia on the President's request.
With a shot (shot in the arm at this point, still alive) JM Kariuki, the special branch officers and Ben Gethi the GSU commandant knew JM Kariuki could not keep quiet over the incident. They knew a JM with a plastered hand was bound to speak to media and blow the whole thing.
It was at this point that the unplanned assassination of JM took place, there was no going back and JM was now better dead than alive. No amount of warning could make JM go silent on the incident and so death was the only available silencer to the man who they could not trust now
Remember JM was not poised to die on 2nd march.After he was shot in the arm by Ben Gethi, lthe same Gethi according to former special branch spy James khwatenge,fired the second shot minutes later killing JM Kariuki but that is after they all agreed JM was better dead than alive.
With lifeless body of JM lying at kingways house that afternoon, his killers didn't know what to do next. The place and time of death was totally unplanned. They didn't know what to tell jomo Kenyatta and where to take JM's lifeless body. A plan had to be hatched quickly.
Earlier before JM was killed,the govt had given an order that all pickups carrying meat around Kenya should have a white strip with "MEAT" word on the pickups body. So the killers went & took a "meat" pickup around jeevanjee gardens & threw the dead JM inside. Ready for transport
His lifeless body was secretly transported using the MEAT van to ngong forest where he was dumped with hope his body won't be traced and he would "disappear" like kungu karumba did.
The killers hoped wild animals would eat the body of the dead JM but surprisingly the animals refused to eat the body of the assistant minister for tourism and WILDLIFE. In short, the wild animals couldn't touch the body of their "boss". Amazing, right?
When he was reported missing in the evening of that fateful Sunday, a search ensued and in the Parliament his colleagues led by martin shikuku and mark Mwithaga were breathing fire and brimstone seeking explanation from the govt. Daniel moi then rose and said JM was in Zambia.
It is assumed by the time Daniel moi rose to lie in the floor of the house that JM was on official duty in Zambia, word had reached state house that JM was already dead in what the special branch officers termed as accidental and unplanned death.
Later that day in Parliament according to Martin shikuku, an unidentified woman came yelling "JM is dead & is in the mortuary". And according to Mark, when Daniel moi heard that, he took a white handkerchief,wiped his tears and said he was sorry if he was made to lie to Kenyans.
When the MPs learnt their fallen colleague was in the mortuary they stopped the house proceedings at 6:30pm that day and rushed to city mortuary. On reaching there, special branch officers were already at the ground pretending to be mortuary attendants ready to sneak dead JM out.
The MPs had not known that special branch spies were already on the ground until Grace Onyango MP for kisumu town identified one of them who coincidentally used to be a special branch spy at the Parliament & she called him out asking him when he turned to be a mortuary attendant.
More to come at 2:30pm EAT
As the fracas continued outside the city mortuary with a large group of MPs surrounding the morgue, Martin shikuku decided to check one of the body which was being signed out by the mortuary "attendants" (read,special branch spies). He immediately recognized it as the body of JM.
Some of the members of Parliament according to details provided by the late Butere MP, Martin shikuku, didn't believe that it was JM's body and they were just about to leave. But as they walked out something unusual was noted by martin shikuku who alerted his colleagues.
Outside the mortuary, there was a group of "mourners" who had come to pick the body of their beloved "relative" and transport it to luo, nyanza in Kenya for burial.This was unusual because normally at that time of the night (around 8pm) it was weird to find mourners at the morgue
In the middle of those ping pong & theatrics by the special branch spies,Mark Mwithaga & shikuku noted quickly that they were in the middle of a well staged game that would see JM body disappear forever.Remember,there is a tag at JM leg branded "unclaimed body of a Luo gangster"
On 12 march 1975, police commissioner Bernard Hinga confirmed to the anxious nation that it was true J.M Kariuki had been assassinated by "unknown" people and that the govt would leave not stone unturned as they unravel the mystery and bring the perpetrators to book.
That announcement by Hinga made things worse & the govt found itself in a corner.Street protests staged by the university of Nairobi students rocked the whole city as they sought answers on who killed JM Kariuki.Remember the same Ben Gethi who killed JM sent GSU to quell rioters
The university demonstrations were led by the likes of former chief Justice Dr Willy Mutunga and James Agrrey Bob Orengo.
Surprisingly, the man who shot JM Kariuki twice killing him & organising his transport to ngong forest for dumping would later rise the police force ranks and become the new police commissioner. Ben Gethi succeeded Bernard Hinga. Was his promotion a reward? We will know one day.
Now you know who killed JM Kariuki, now you know how he spent his last 48 hours on earth before his life was abruptly taken by dark and evil forces
