Aboud Rogo Mohammed before the Mombasa Chief Magistrate where he was
charged for being in possession of illegal firearms in this file photo.
The taskforce charged with investigating the murder of the controversial
muslim cleric has failed to to identify the killers and instead
recommended a public inquest.
Nation Media Group
Monday, August 26, 2013
Taskforce chairman Jacob Ondari has said potential witnesses cowed away from giving the information.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko says inquest will be formed immediately.
A report presented to the Director of Public Prosecutions on Monday stated that the taskforce met a dead end when the crime scene got contaminated and potential witnesses cowed away.
“During investigations and despite several appeals by the Taskforce and the police in various media, the public did not come forward to volunteer information regarding the crime despite assurances given by the Task Force,” the report states.
“Witnesses were not free to volunteer information hence impacting negatively on the flow of information and the quality of evidence.”
The team drawn from the police, the Law Society of Kenya, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) office, Independent Police Oversight Authority, Ombudsman and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) says despite leads on how the killers looked like, there was no tangible clue to identify the killers.
“There is no doubt Aboud Rogo was murdered. In this one, we have descriptions of people who killed Aboud Rogo, but we have not had the opportunity to put these descriptions on particular persons.
We do not have any names, other that the description that the killers were of Arab origin,” the Taskforce Chairman Jacob Ondari told reporters in Nairobi.
“With the number of bullets fired at the vehicle, we do not know whether these were marksmen or amateurs, but it appears they knew their target,” he added.
Sheikh Rogo was killed on Monday August 27 last year as he drove his wife to hospital along the Mombasa-Malindi highway by unknown assailants. The assassination resulted in unprecedented protests as rowdy youth pelted stones, and even explosives, at the police.
Sheikh Rogo was a controversial preacher who the US suspected was involved in terrorist activities. The US though denied having a hand in his murder.
On Monday, the team of ten members reported that there were challenges in the search for truth, and recommend that a public inquest be formed to get the true picture as soon as possible.