A Kitui county fire truck crushed one-time mayor Martha
Mwangangi to death and narrowly missed former Lands CS Charity Ngilu.
The driver was trying to scare away a crowd that threatened
to torch a county government vehicle as it passed by Kitui Central police
station.
This was during protests by Kalundu market traders against
the demolition of their structures.
Witnesses said the engine was headed to Kalundu centre,
where the demonstrators earlier barricaded Kitui-Thika road with burning tyres.
Mwangangi and Ngilu went to the area in a show of support
for the traders, whose shops were demolished on Thursday night by county
government enforcement officers.
The former Cabinet Secretary was pushed aside by her
bodyguard when the truck ploughed through the crowd. Many of the protesters
also escaped death narrowly.
Witnesses, who said they ran for their lives, accused the
driver of murder. The driver sped away as the rowdy crowd threatened to lynch
him.
The incident comes amid rumors that one of the traders
committed suicide after finding her kiosk reduced into a pile of scrap metal,
and her stock destroyed.
Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu was earlier roughed up by the
traders at Kalundu market after they mistook him for Governor John Malombe.
Makali’s bodyguard was forced to draw his gun to scare the
surging crowd that was baying for his boss’s blood.
He was whisked away and taken to a nearby building where he
stayed until the protestors were dispersed.
Compiled By PATRICK VIDIJA
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