[Jimmy Wanjigi in a past event. The raid in home is not new in our country given that it was rampant during KANU era. Photo/Nation]
Early this week, the Police in a choreographed manner raided a house in Malindi and tipped the media that it was Jimmi Wanjigi’s holiday home and had cache of guns. Some parts of mainstream media excitedly reported it as the truth! Thank God, we gave up on ethical journalism in Kenya.
We saw the Policemen arranging the guns and bullets without having designated the place a crime scene. Any forensics on the guns is now useless. We will never know who owned the guns.
Then later, the media was directed to JW’s house in Muthaiga. It was sad seeing old and frail Maina Wanjigi going to protect his son. I wish the Police will act with same alacrity at all times against anyone committing any crime. Selective application of the law eats away the foundation of our nationhood.
Then it reminded me of 1993. I was a rookie lawyer in my first year of employment in the law firm of Senator Moses Wetang’ula. In Ndeiya, Limuru, Six Kikuyus were arrested by Moi Government and accused of robbing a Police Station and stealing guns to cause chaos.
They were tortured and abused before being brought to court. Wetang’ula asked me to represent them. The case was hogwash and false. The Prosecution couldn’t prove anything. The Six were acquitted. The only “crime” of the Six is because they were Kikuyus and Democratic Party activists.
Ndeiya Six was one of the first of less than ten criminal cases I did. The story of Jimmi Wanjigi has the echoes of Ndeiya Six. It is like we are back to 1990’s. History repeats itself, first as a tragedy then as a farce, as said by Karl Marx.