Explosive: Why I Suspect Alfred Mutua Wants Me Dead, Boniface Mwangi Drops The Bombshell

By Boniface Mwangi

WHY I SUSPECT ALFRED MUTUA WANTS ME DEAD.

A STORY OF LOVE, REJECTION, ABUSE OF POWER, CRIME, AND ELUSIVE JUSTICE

The Facts

On 15th August 2021 Alfred Mutua and Lilian Ng’ang’a made a public statement announcing their separation. A week later Lillian attended Mutua’s birthday party. Their love relationship had ended much earlier, something only close family and friends knew. Lilian had moved on and there was an agreement that Mutua would behave maturely. He had begged Lilian to stay and promised to give her a new Prado, buy her a house and give her money. He had even proposed that they do a white wedding. Mutua’s efforts failed.

Mutua, who worked for President Kibaki’s government as a spin doctor, was desperate for good Public Relations, to look more presidential. Mutua’s political stock of trade is his beguiling looks, boyish charm and quick tongue. On Thursday 5th March 2009, Mutua, issued a scathing attack and threat against two activists, Oscar Kamau King’ara, and his communications officer, George Paul Oulu. A few hours later, Mutua’s threat against King’ara and Oulu had deadly consequences when the two activists were gunned down in broad day light, in an operation that had all the hallmarks of being carried out by a police hit squad. There is no available record that Mutua was made to account for his threats and attack, or asked to explain whether he was privy to King’ara and Oulu’s deaths.

His political detractors allege he is a propagandist and a spin doctor, who at one time was alleged to have convinced Nairobians that white sand stones nicely arranged at the shoulders of the capital city’s highways and avenues, were more attractive than the sweet smelling lilies and appealing roses. It is alleged in political circles, and by his political enemies, that Mutua wears controversy like a badge of honour, and uses his power to entice the women he wants to love. In my view these allegations are worthy of investigation.

Those close to him allege that when love turns to rejection, he liberally peddles threats and deploys police to silence those he once cherished but have overstayed his welcome, and can no longer be tolerated in his mansions. A few years ago, and this is in the public domain, his ex-wife, Josephine Thitu Maundu, detailed how the couple had fallen out of love and were fighting over property and children. The fights at times played out in public, where security officers were instructed to eject the First Lady from her seat at a public function.

It is further alleged, and again on public record, that when the heat became unbearable Josephine fled to Australia with their three children on 6th November 2014. Josephine made it public that she appointed her brother, Moses Mutua Maundu, as the caretaker at her Grevillea Park apartment.
However, public records show that Maundu’s attempt to move some stuff out of the apartment, so that he could renovate and later rent it out, were thwarted by Mutua who stormed the place that was guarded by two Administration Police officers.

The gate to the apartment was locked, and police guards were posted at the apartment to block Josephine from accessing the place she had called home. Josephine complained that Mutua also went to Spring Valley Police Station, where he filed a report that she had abducted her own children. This fact is also in the public domain.

At the height of the crisis, Josephine complained in a media report, “I have been hounded out of my home and country by endless intimidation, mental torture, and anguish by Dr. Mutua. My children and I have been subjected to intense public humiliation, lack of privacy, inadequate security and media scrutiny for two years.”

On 1st September 2021, my close friend, Julius Owino, popularly known as Juliani, called me. He was afraid. He had received threatening phone calls that he was going to be murdered if he didn’t stop posting pictures of him and Lillian Ng’ang’a online. Lilian had already separated from Mutua and had become good friends with Juliani. I advised Juliani to report those threats and on 2nd September, I escorted him to Kileleshwa Police Station where we reported the matter. When Juliani said he had been threatened I stood by him as a friend but, unknown to us, Mutua was allegedly planning to harm us.

Unknowingly, I had also become a marked man through these allegations about Mutua. Lillian begged him to just end it amicably but Mutua, who was more focused on public relations than the relationship, would hear none of it. Privately, he complained that Juliani and I were the reason why Lilian left him, something he allegedly told the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) when he was later summoned. When his relationship with Lillian ended, it was none of my business and I was neither the glue nor the chemistry that brought Juliani and Lillian together.

Since 2018 I have been complaining about the state of the roads in our area, Machakos, and the theft of money meant for our Mountainview dam, that Mutua claimed he was following up on but never did. Since we bought the farm in 2018 I have alerted Mutua, multiple times via my Twitter handle, about the pathetic state of our roads. We even exchanged tweets in 2019 about the non-existent Mountain View Earth Dam, despite the fact that a company called Hydratech Building Contractors had been contracted to build it. We had complained as a group and the main witness who was mobilising us claimed to have been threatened. Mutua replied and said he had pursued the matter with the national government and someone was “sweating”, to imply the contractors would be held accountable. Nothing happened. In 2020 and 2021 we exchanged tweets about another Machakos County resident, Alan Donovan.

The late Donovan was concerned that some politicians were planning to steal African Heritage House and the land earmarked for Nairobi National Park entrance on Mombasa Road had already been grabbed. He replied to say he was going to see Donavan. Donavan died in December 2021 without Mutua keeping his word.

I am not a stranger to either Mutua or Lillian. I regularly host friends for lunch at our Lukenya home and we sometimes camp in the compound. While I have known Lillian for about 15 years, she has been to my farm only once – in October 2020 – when we were marking the one-year death anniversary of our mutual friend, Ann Kamoni. Note the month, October 2020. She came with bodyguards and a chase car.

I have interacted with Mutua from my journalism days and actually did some photography work for his lifestyle magazine, Passion, when he was the government spokesman. The days he used to delay payments. We’re not strangers to one another.

I write this because it is alleged that the people Mutua allegedly used to attack my home have been promoted and he might decide that eliminating me is the best way out. I will not stop speaking the truth. I suspect that Mutua bombed my house. As a citizen of Kenya, I have the right to report anyone whom I suspect to have planned, or is about, to harm me. It is for the State to investigate my complaint. A State that cannot protect the lives and property of its citizens has no legitimacy to rule.

The Bombing

The information we have so far alleges that the planning to bomb my house started in August 2021. A staff member of Machakos County named Eric Ndemange, under the direction of Mwengi Mutuse – Chief of Staff to Dr. Alfred Mutua, Governor of Machakos County – constituted a group that brought together police officers based in Machakos to cause material harm to my property. They specifically planned to bomb my house that I’m building in Kilili village, Lukenya area in Athi River Sub-County. I must reiterate that I have conducted my own independent investigation, the findings of which are contained in my complaint to the police, which is my constitutional right to respond to them when they ask me who I believed were the suspects seeking to do me harm.

The conspiracy involved a 3-stage planning and execution approach. The first stage of the plan was the site surveillance, and planning for the house demolition using explosives. This involved visiting the site, mapping the exact places to place the explosives and determining containment measures to ensure maximum damage to the house and zero deaths, as per alleged instructions by the Governor.

As they patiently waited for the right day to execute their diabolical plan, they would occasionally pay trolls to attack me online. In the meantime, Mutua always pretended he was unaware. Their only challenge was there was a curfew in the country and they didn’t know how to go to my place unnoticed. The explosives had been acquired and police officers were on standby to carry out the bombing of my house.

6 days after Juliani reported that he had received death threats, Mutua – accompanied by his police bodyguard – took Lilian’s car, motor vehicle registration KBY 186G, without her permission. Mutua, it is alleged, then proceeded to fraudulently transfer the car to himself and sold it to a third party. Unknown to Lilian, Mutua had also fraudulently transferred a company they jointly owned, to his sister, Ann Mbandi Mutua. Lilian and Juliani were already living in fear, having strange people following them, and since last year they’ve had to try to be home before dark to avoid being attacked. These criminal activities were reported to the police, who did nothing. Lilian has sued Mutua for stealing her property, including the car and shares of the company they owned jointly.

Privately, Lilian pursued diplomacy and on 22nd September, at a meeting at Windsor Golf Club, she begged Mutua to behave like a human being. In the true sense, good people don’t seek to harm those they used to love, but instead set them them free and move on with their lives.

According to Lillian, Mutua angrily referred to her as his Enemy No. 1, and threatened to “crush me to ash, and take away everything I have, and own. He also threatened to harm persons close to me. He stated that he had offers from people to kill persons close to me, and threatened that he might indeed take up the offers to teach some of them a lesson,” the former first lady later recalled in a public statement. Mutua also told her that he is a very powerful person in Kenya and so he can get away with anything and everything that he planned to do to her and her friends.

In September, after the fallout between Governor Mutua and Lilian Ng’ang’a, Mutua sought to find ways of silencing Lilian from speaking about their fallout in a manner that could lead to further public embarrassment, given his current and future political ambitions. While this was not achieved, I must allege that he tasked his chief of Staff to find ways of silencing me as a third party; the collateral damage would serve as a lesson to Lilian and Juliani should they continue to appear in public in a manner damaging to his stature and reputation.

Prior to the criminal and violent attack on my house, I had publicly offered moral support and solidarity to Lilian and her new partner, Juliani, and the two had confided in me that they were receiving threats to their lives and limbs on account of Lilian severing her relationship with Mutua. Lillian had warned us that Mutua was out to get us. Why? Because she was in love with Juliani.

On 16th October, four days before the attack on my house, I had posted images of Lilian and Juliani with the following caption, “Life is short, don’t let religion, or societal expectations make you stay in an unhappy relationship. Go where you’re loved. If you have loved once, you can love and be loved again. Love is a choice. Love is beautiful. Don’t be afraid to love whoever you want to love.”

Mutua didn’t want any images of Lilian together with any other person apart from him to appear online. I had annoyed him by daring to share the pictures. Juliani had also been warned, by unknown people, not to share pictures of himself and Lilian online or he would be murdered.

The day the curfew was lifted, Mutua’s alleged and stalled plans were actioned immediately. On the night of 20th October 2021, Mashujaa day, as Kenyans were celebrating the lifting of the nation-wide curfew, this long-term conspiracy came to fruition. This was a well-detailed plan, mooted after the marital fallout came into the public limelight.

Execution

On 20th October 2021, at around 1930 hrs, Stephen Otieno and Isaac Ouma- (hereafter referred as the two workers who work at my Lukenya home) were on their way back to my house from Kilili Shopping Centre. As they were approaching the gate to the house, they saw one double cabin pick-up parked next to the gate. The vehicle had one occupant in the driver’s seat and they could see two men standing next to the gate to my compound. As they approached, the two men at the gate, brandishing police standard issue pistols, ordered them to lie down. The two workers were then ordered to walk on their knees into a nearby bush and told to remove everything, including mobile phones, from their pockets and lie down again. The criminals then took away their phones, switched them off and ordered the two workers not to raise their heads. Attempts by one of the workers to adjust his head was met with a volley of kicks by one of the assailants.

The two workers were pinned to the ground by the attackers who assaulted and ordered them not to lift their heads up. After about 15 minutes, they heard multiple explosions from the direction of the house under construction. A few minutes later, they heard footsteps indicating other persons joining the two assailants, who talked for a while before they all proceeded to the waiting car and drove off. After sensing that the criminals had left, the two workers stood up and walked towards where they live, which is adjacent to the house under construction.

As they were passing the house, they noticed an unusual smell emanating from it. They approached the rear side of the house and saw big craters next to the plumbing lines, and also found one unused electric detonator on the ground. They found three different detonation sites at the back/rear side of the house, where explosives had been placed inside the PVC pipes that drain sewage/wastewater from the bathrooms and kitchen. The explosives were connected in series, so that the three sites would be blown up at the same time. The attackers used a command wire connected to the three detonators and capped into water gel explosives. Their intention was to bring the whole house down by destroying the foundation.

The workers immediately called and told me my house had been blown up and it looked like the foundation was destroyed. I immediately knew, given the events of the preceding weeks, that Mutua had finally attacked me to make a statement. I could not imagine any other person who would wish to harm me by brazenly “bombing” my house, other than the person that Lilian Ng’ang’a had confided to me, was wishing to harm people close to her. I told my workers to report the attack to the police in the morning.

The Aftermath

Our house in Lukenya is 8kms off the main Mombasa highway, through a conservancy and very poor road. We only have 3 immediate neighbours, and because there is no proper road, people often get lost coming to the house. While I was devastated, I suspected and was convinced, deep down, that Mutua was behind the bombing and I publicly stated as much. Initially, the police weren’t too keen on coming to my house until after l had made a lot of noise on my social media pages. The first officer to arrive was the DCI boss in Athi River, John Chesir, and Athi River OCPD, Anderson Njagi. They didn’t secure or photograph the scene, but instead gathered all the evidence and put it in paper bags. Surprisingly, they didn’t think to call a team to lift fingerprints. I made some phone calls and Charles Mutua, the Machakos County DCI Commander, and Issa Mohammed, the Machakos County Commander, were dispatched to the scene. When Chesir heard they were coming, he told his officers to put back the unexploded ordinances and all the “evidence” they had gathered, so that when the County Commander and bomb experts arrived, they would find the scene as they had initially found it.

At around 11:40am the police released a statement saying that, “The National Police Service wishes to confirm that a report was this morning filed at Thika Police Station by one Issac Ouma that a house belonging to one Boniface Mwangi, located at Kinanie Location, was attacked by three (3) unknown men in a white pickup.” The truth is that Thika is 70 kilometres away from my home, and no such incident was reported at the police station there. The incident was instead reported at the much closer Lukenya Police Post under OB No. 02/21/10/2021. When l told them to correct the inaccuracy on their press release and make it clear that we didn’t report the matter in Thika but in Lukenya, they ignored me.

The senior officers who came to the scene laughed and said, “we have spoken to the Governor and they said he didn’t do it.” They showed up for public relations, as Kenyans online were asking for answers.

On 22nd October a National Intelligence Service (NIS) officer got in touch with me and gave me evidence on how the plan was hatched. The NIS agent gave me evidence including four names and the images of three people. The following day, 23rd October, l called State House. I was hoping maybe because explosives were used in the attack, the President would ensure no stones were left unturned. Whoever picked the call referred me to Interior Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiangi, who didn’t pick my calls nor respond to my message. I decided to reach out to DCI Director, George Kinoti, who told me to see him the following day on 24th October 2021.

I presented him with the confidential evidence I had received linking the Governor to the bombing of my house for the matter to be placed under investigation. I had an original copy of what the NIS agent had drawn for me which the DCI Director made a copy of. The Director was keen that l give him phone numbers of the people involved in the attack, which l did. The person who transported the attackers to the scene was Joseph Mwongela Muthiani, who at that time was Mutuse’s driver. In his car was Martin Muia and others that l won’t name to protect the identity of my source. The attack was coordinated by Mutua’s Chief of Staff from Connections, Mlolongo, while the second in command, Eric Ndemange, was coordinating the attack from Captain’s Lounge, Mlolongo. Mutuse would communicate with Ndemange and Ndemange was in touch with Mwongela during the day and the time of the attack.

After the attack on the house, the attackers arrived at Captain’s Lounge around 11pm. They went straight to the VIP area to celebrate. The guns they had used during the attack were put in a back pack and they celebrated the bombing of my house until around 3am. Captain’s Lounge is located inside Petro City and both the petrol station and the club have CCTV. l requested the Director to send officers to go and retrieve that evidence before it was erased. He called me “my son” and promised that l shall get justice.

It has now been three months since the attack on my home. Some people at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations managed to get the evidence that I shared and decided to share it with the suspects. They informed on me to the suspects and even told them the crime they had committed was likely to deliver a life sentence if they were convicted. The Kenyan Penal Code states that malicious injury to property is a misdemeanour, and a convicted person is
liable, if no other punishment is provided, to imprisonment for five years. However, if the property in question is a dwelling-house or a vessel, and the injury is caused by the explosion of any explosive substance, and the destruction or damage actually endangers the life of any person, the offender is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life. Alfred Mutua and his goons, as suspects, were going to be investigated, probably arrested and prosecuted. If convicted they would get life imprisonment.

I believe and suspect that the information I gave was traded, people were bribed and the suspects were given time to erase some evidence. Eric Ndemange, who was Mutuse’s errand boy, was promoted to become the Mavoko Sub-County Administrator and Joseph Mwongela Muthiani, the driver, is now the Mlolongo Ward Administrator. Mutuse, as the master, didn’t need to be bribed with anything since during the last 10 years, while working as Chief of Staff, he has built an apartment block and a hotel and has been allowed to accumulate a war chest to run for Parliament as the future Kibwezi West MP, something the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission should look into.
Interestingly, I suspect the DCI updates the suspects more than they do me. I’m confident the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau can crack this case open even after some officers were bribed to assist the suspects to evade a possible life sentence. We need to end this notion that Kenya Police love bribes and quick money more than justice. That they exist to collect bribes, serve and protect the rich while killing poor people. We must be convinced that the police are complying with Article 238 of the Constitution in word, spirit, and deed.

Given the unsuccessful bombing attack on my house, the conspirators have not abandoned their mission to cause harm to me, Julaini and Lilian. While they had to lie low in November 2021, when there was publicity on the Lilian-Mutua marital property dispute, I am told by my own sources that they have suggested the idea of eliminating me.

From detailed forensic investigations of mobile telephone communication, there is substantial evidence implicating the Chief of Staff, working under instructions of the Governor, to assemble and coordinate a team to cause malicious damage to the property and harm me. It is also evident that insiders at DCI have been leaking evidence to the suspects. The serving police officers who were involved in the attack on my farm should be charged with contravening the Service Standing orders by being part of the conspiracy to commit crime by aiding and obtaining explosives, use of police issued firearms to commit crime, and currently planning to harm. It is up to the police to assemble this evidence after I have given them leads as a complainant.

I believe that Mutua has perceived and actual powers that have led him to believe he can’t be touched, but true power belongs to the people. What can citizens do? Demand for the DCI to prosecute the people who bombed my house. If you are against Gender Based Violence you must tell your preferred presidential candidate not to work with a person who, it is alleged, has threatened to harm and kill his ex-partner and her friends. A man who cannot take no for an answer in a love relationship is a dangerously entitled fool. If he can say and do such things, as it is alleged, what then will he do if he gets into power?

When Sergeant Kipyegon Kenei was murdered, his killers liaised with a mobile service provider employee, who deleted Kenei’s records and deactivated his Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp accounts. His phone was found in factory settings mode with the SIM card missing. I fear that is something Mutua and his people have thought of doing to me so that he can run for President. Remember this, the greater the Public Relation campaign, the bigger the skeletons they’re hiding.
In February 2015 MP, George Muchai, was shot together with his driver and two body guards. In May 2016 Jacob Juma was shot dead. On 31st July 2017 Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ICT Manager, Chris Msando, was tortured and strangled to death, days ahead of the polls.

In April 2021 Jennifer Wambua, a former journalist working for National Lands Commission (NLC), was murdered. Wambua was to appear as a state witness in a Sh122.3 million fraud case. In the same month, Betty Barasa, a Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) video editor, was shot dead in her home.

In June 2021 environmental activist, Joanna Stutchbury, was shot dead following death threats while campaigning against private developers encroaching on the Kiambu Forest. In November the same year, the body of veteran science journalist, Gatonye Gathura, was found in a Naivasha mortuary with a wire tied around the neck; he had been strangled to death.

In this country people get murdered all the time for “crossing” people in positions of power. The evidence is overwhelming. I don’t want to be a victim of political assassination for speaking truth to power. I have written this because l know the written word endures. If anything happens to me, even in my grave I will suspect Mutua did it. I demand justice. Under the Constitution I demand the upholding, respect, and protection of my life, livelihood, and property.

BONIFACE MWANGI
NAIROBI
22 JANUARY 2022.