The man was the Member of Parliament for Kisumu Town East - the same constituency which also Dr. Ouko had represented before he got killed. His name was Gor Sunguh.
By a quorum vote, the Parliament of the Republic of Kenya had voted him Chairman of a Committee charged with the responsibility of finding out who killed Dr. Ouko ……. And why.
After talking to the former Head of State, he sat down. He was still in his office at the Parliament Buildings when that call came in via his cell phone.
Amazed by how swiftly news of what went on in Parliament still reached Moi, he looked at his phone oddly, slammed it, then pondered the meanting of that call.
Could it be that the former Head of State had just threatened him?
There is one witness I don’t want your Committee to summon.
Who are we talking about ?
Mrs. Marianne Briner-Mattern.
Marianne ….
Was that a threat ?
Fearing it was, he grabbed the phone again, his hands shaking. Then he dialed Raila Odinga.
Raila Odinga, having dinner at the Safari Park Hotel, reached for his cell phone, looked at the caller ID and then flipped on a third ring, “Raila.”
“Raila weche richo,” Sunguh blurted.
“What does that mean?”
“I have just received a unique call.”
“By whom?” Raila asked.
“Moi.”
“What did he want?”
The Kisumu Town East MP was suddenly in a fix. He was smart enough to know that the Molasses Plant in Kisumu was among the reasons why Dr. Ouko had been killed. Two previous investigations had revealed that. He also understood that Raila was now a key player in the Molasses Project. In fact, he knew that accusations had surfaced to the effect that Raila and his family had used the money collected by the Luo-Community to revive the plant.
But of all the things that suddenly worried him most was the fact that his political party of which Raila was a crucial player had worked closely with men around the former Head of State, including his statuesque son, Gideon. That was not something he could overlook.
“What does he want?” Raila repeated his question.
Hesitantly, Sunguh said, “ He has warned me not to summon once certain witness.”
“Himself?”
No.”
“Nicholas Biwott?”
No.”
“Then who?”
“Marianne Briner-Mattern.”
*****************************************
Before Raila Odinga could recover from this information, his phone rang again. He answered without looking at the caller ID, “Hello?”
Cough, “It’s me.”
Raila stood up and walked to a corner and looking first around making sure that there was nobody near, he said, “What’s going on, Mzee?”
Moi cut the chase, “Tell Chairman Sunguh to be careful”
“About what?”
“The witnesses he summons.”
Pretending he did not know what Moi was talking about, Raila asked, “Is there a special witness you do not want the Committee to summon?”
Cough, “Just ask Sunguh – I already told him”.
Click……
