Nairobi Star: Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo family receives death threat

JUSTICE Minister Mutula Kilonzo, his wife Nduku and their son Mutula Junior are living in fear after receiving death threats from unknown people.

The latest death threat was when an anonymous caller phoned Mutula's wife on Friday last week.

There is no clear motive but the minister has allegedly been confronted by his own Cabinet colleagues.

Two Cabinet ministers went to his 14th floor office at Co-operative House in July to ask Mutula to stop pushing for a Bill to establish a Special Tribunal to try post-election violence suspects.

The ministers were angry with Mutula's insistence that the best option for Kenya was to create a local tribunal instead of referring the case to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

They asked Mutula to declare his interest and explain why he was so determined to have a local tribunal.

One minister asked Mutula if he had a valid passport but declined to explain why he wanted the information.

Contacted yesterday, Mutula was reluctant to discuss the conduct of his Cabinet colleagues but said he was taking the threats directed to him and his family very seriously.

"I do not know why anyone would target my family and myself but I can tell you that all these issues have been reported to the police as required by law. I am hoping that action will be taken as soon as possible because this is a very serious matter," said Mutula.

"They tried to make me malleable but did not succeed. Now they have decided to threaten my family. Why would any one threaten my wife or my son? It is totally unfair and unacceptable," said Mutula.

Mutula's wife told the Star how someone called her on Friday at about 10pm to say that she was targeted for elimination. The caller did not say who was behind the plot or why they wanted her dead.

"The person who called me sounded very polished and spoke very good English for the 15 or so minutes I engaged him. He made it clear to me that he was not just delivering a mere threat but that he was tipping me.

"He then went on to say ask me to report the matter to the police as soon as possible because the plan was about to be executed," said Nduku.

She said the man refused to identify the people behind the plot and insisted that the plot was real.

"I do not know who I have wronged so much that someone can actually plan to kill me," she said.

Nduku's report to the Gigiri police station is recorded in the Occurrence Book as OB 16/10/9/09.

Acting Gigiri OCPD Paul Korir confirmed last night that Mutula's wife had recorded a statement.

"I can confirm that we received that report and we are investigating the matter," said Korir.

Mutula Junior said he had received death threats several weeks ago and had reported the matter to Central Police Station but no arrests have been made so far.

"The person was very general but said he had been paid Sh200,000 to kill me because of a sensitive case I was handling. He did not name the case but just insisted that there was plan to eliminate me.

" I reported the matter to the police and the last I heard was that they had traced the location where the call was made. I do not know if they are continuing with investigations or not," said Mutula Junior who now runs his father's law firm Mutula Kilonzo and Company Advocates.

The two ministers went to Mutula's office a few days before the Cabinet met on July 20 and finally decided to reject the Bills which proposed the changing of the constitution to establish a special local tribunal.

Instead, the Cabinet decided to change the mandate of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to enable it to handle post election violence suspects.

Following the Cabinet decision, mediator Kofi Annan handed the Waki list of suspects to the International Criminal Court whose Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo is now analysing the evidence, will soon take over the Kenyan case.

Yesterday, Mutula said the the death threats against his family was because of the position he had taken on the tribunal issue.



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