By Our Reporter
Worth Noting:
- For the eight days that Mzee Tunta’s body lay in mortuary and on the burial day, mourners narrated the fame that has for nearly five decades shadowed his life.
- The late herder who was 62 years old when he came across the remains of the former Nyandarua North MP has lived to narrate the incident to his villagemates and visitors.
- On the fateful day, Mzee Tunta was busy grazing his livestock when he came across a badly mutilated body.
- He immediately informed the area chief identified as Ole Ncoki who upon visiting the scene, then proceeded to report the matter Ngong Police Station.
- Past reports indicate that police officers rushed to the scene and took the body to the City Mortuary where it was booked as an “unknown male adult”.
The herder who was the first person to stumble on the remains of politician Josiah Mwangi (JM) Kariuki died a few days ago.
Mzee Musaite Ole Tunta, 109 passed on peacefully in his sleep at his home, 47 years after discovering the mutilated body of firebrand politician.
A sombre mood engulfed Olosho Oibor village in Kajiado West Sub-County on Tuesday as the former herder was laid to rest.
JM Kariuki, is alleged have been assassinated due to his differences with powerful individuals who called shots in the then Jomo Kenyatta administration.
His remains were found at Ngong Hills on the morning of March 2, 1975, a few days after he was reported missing where then government officials led by Vice President Daniel Arap Moi gave contradicting information.
Not even a parliamentary committee formed to enquire on his death could resolve the mystery surrounding his death.
On December 19 when the herder died, the mid 1970’s gloomy incident was rekinded albeit with little frontier.
For the eight days that Mzee Tunta’s body lay in mortuary and on the burial day, mourners narrated the fame that has for nearly five decades shadowed his life.
The late herder who was 62 years old when he came across the remains of the former Nyandarua North MP has lived to narrate the incident to his villagemates and visitors.
On the fateful day, Mzee Tunta was busy grazing his livestock when he came across a badly mutilated body.
He immediately informed the area chief identified as Ole Ncoki who upon visiting the scene, then proceeded to report the matter Ngong Police Station.
Past reports indicate that police officers rushed to the scene and took the body to the City Mortuary where it was booked as an “unknown male adult”.
Later, it was discovered that the body belonged to the fierce politician.
On Tuesday, as the former herder was buried, speakers observed that Mzee Tunta, though was celebrated as a hero in his village did not get similar status from the governments.
Community elder Silas Koilel, who chaired the late Tunta’s burial committee recalled that blood remained visible where the politician was allegedly murdered for years.
He said that Mzee Tunta had on the night when Mr Kariuki was killed noticed that something was not okay as they had heard gunshots.
Koilel, who was a young boy then noted that after the incident, life became tough for Mzee Tunta as he was threatened and warned not to reveal that he had seen the body of the politician.
He observed that frequently, police officers could stream into the late Tunta’s homestead, pick him up and leave with him without saying a word.
That is how he decided to shift from the village where we resided and went to where his body has been laid to rest told mourners.
According to Koilel, despite the tribulations, the late Tunta had a big heart as he among other things, held a meeting with other community elders and they decided to gift the government 15 acres of land where he wished that a hospital and school be built on.
As a sign of blessings, rains pounded the village for the first time in the last three years.
A memorial slab has since been built at the scene.
Ms Jane Kariuki, a daughter of the late politician, could not hold back tears as she visited the spot where her father’s body was found. Back then, the scene was a thicket full of shrubs roamed by wild animals.
“It is sad that the man who knew what had transpired and even saw the body of my father has died with all the secrets. We shall do all it takes to ensure that we start a school on the land that the community gave out at least to ensure that the wishes of the late come true,” she said, after visiting the scene.
The former MP died a wealthy man with cash, land, plots and shares in various companies to his name.
When she appeared before a vetting committee a few weeks ago, Rosemary Kariuki, another daughter put her net worth as Sh550 million which is shared by her family.
She added that part of it was inherited from her late father.
Mr Kariuki also had an undisclosed amount of assets.
In May 2019, the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority took over an undisclosed number of shares that the former legislator held in a tobacco company.
In 2017, the same government agency took more than 522 shares the Nyandarua MP held at a top food processing company.
Mr Kariuki was last seen alive at the Hilton Hotel on March 2, 1975.
According to records, the first attempt on his life was when a bus he was supposed to travel in to Mombasa was bombed.
When his remains were found, his hands had been chopped off, eyes gouged out, his face burnt with acid and left on an ant’s nest.
When the news of his death broke, University of Nairobi students marched in protest in the streets of the capital.
The march was broken up by anti-riot police and the campus was closed indefinitely.
In an earlier interview, the late politician’s widow Terry Wanjiru narrated how she found herself in a Nairobi mortuary looking at his lifeless body.
“His face looked very dark as if something had been poured on it,” she said.
But it was the “unknown” tag attached to his foot that shocked her.
The late JM Kariuki who initially hailed from Chinga ward in Othaya was an ambitious and popular politician who had spent time in prison as a member of the Mau Mau.
Upon release from detention, he served as Mzee Jomo Kenyatta Personal Assistant before he was made the boss at National Youth Service before joining politics.
As for Mzee Tunta, he remained in good health and died peacefully at his home on December 19, in what is believed to be a natural death.
Additional information and photos courtesy of NMG Web
