The murder trial of Kasipul Member of Parliament Ong’ondo Were resumed behind closed doors at the Kibera Law Courts on Tuesday. Under tight security, the eighth prosecution witness took the stand.
The witness told the court that someone summoned him to Jacaranda, where he first met the first suspect, the man who would later act as the hitman. The witness used his motorcycle to ferry the suspect to a car wash, where they ate a meal before continuing their journey.
In Buruburu, the suspects met up with a second man, who drove a white Toyota Crown. The motorcycle and the car then traveled together toward Nairobi’s CBD, stopping to fuel at a petrol station along Jogoo Road. The driver of the Toyota Crown paid for the fuel.
One suspect carried a small bag. The witness explained that his own role was simply to wait while others surveilled the victim around the Parliament area.
The rider trailed the victim’s vehicle, the white Toyota Crown, through Kenyatta Avenue, Valley Road, and Hurlingham, finally stopping at the Daystar University roundabout.
At this point, traffic forced them to a halt on the suspect’s orders. Moments later, gunshots rang out. The suspect ran back, jumped onto the motorcycle, and ordered the rider to flee the scene.
They sped back to Buruburu. Later, the witness received a payment of Ksh.50,000. He insisted before Justice Diana Kavetza that he had no knowledge of a murder plot and genuinely believed he was only providing transport.
The state kept the witness under heavy protection throughout his testimony. His account now forms a crucial link in the prosecution’s case, directly placing both the alleged hitman and the driver of the Toyota Crown at the scene of the crime.
The prosecution alleges that the MP’s bodyguard, Allan Omondi Ogola, actively participated in plotting the murder. Authorities accused him and the MP’s driver of communicating and holding secret meetings with the suspected hitmen to coordinate the assassination. Surveillance footage and phone records placed them in direct contact with the key suspects to track Were’s movements right up to the moment he was gunned down.
As the trial continues, authorities are keeping the Kibera Law Courts sealed, but inside, the search for justice presses forward.
