Raila Odinga calls for end to political assassinations targeting Luos

ODM party leader Raila Odinga has called for an end to numerous political assassinations in Kenya. Raila spoke at the funeral of Kasipul MP Ongondo Were on Friday, May 9 in Homa Bay County. Ongondo was assassinated on April 30 in Nairobi. Raila called Ongondo’s murder “a political assassination," adding that the killers must be arrested immediately because they are well known. Rila said political assassinations must end, noting that we must build a society where people can disagree politically without killing their opponents. He called for political tolerance, saying that political opponents must learn to shake hands after elections. Raila lamented that the Nyanza region, especially Luoland, has been hit by the murder of political leaders. Raila recalled how Kenya’s minister for Economic Planning Tom Mboya was assassinated in 1969. He said Mboya was assassinated by one Mr. Njenga. Headded that Njega talked of the Big Man who was never charged. Raila added that another Luo, Dr. Odhiambo Mbai, who was a leading supporter of devolution, was also killed in front of his family in Nairobi. Shortly after midday on Sunday, September 14, 2003, Dr Chrispin Odhiambo Mbai sat in the living room of his house to read the day's newspapers when two strangers burst in and fatally shot him. Ongondo was driving with his bodyguard at around 7:30 p.m. on April 30 when assassins who had been trailing him on motorbike fired five bullets, killing the vocal politician. Raila said that Ongondo had a premonition about his death, adding that the late MP at one time had hitched a ride in the party leader’s car fearing for his safety. Raila said that the killers had been trailing the MP for a long time. He said that Ongondo knew his killers. Raila said that police investigations should lead to the arrest of the assassins. The former prime minister said that the nine people who have been arrested in connection with the murder are mere agents. “The author of this crime must be brough to book,” Raila told the mourners. “We cannot live in a society that allows impunity to continue.