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Police: This is why Rogo and Makaburi were killed

By KNA September 4th, 2015 2 min read

A witness in the ongoing inquest of the slain Muslim cleric Sheikh Aboud Rogo on Friday made a sensational revelation before a Mombasa law court that the deceased firebrand cleric might have been killed by his affiliates over alleged mishandling of foreign donor funds.

Investigating Officer Gilbert Kitalia stated that a close friend of the late cleric had revealed to him that a disenfranchised section of the fallen Imam’s followers may have been behind the assassination over what they suspected was his mishandling of funds donated to rehabilitate mosques in Mombasa.

Rogo was shot dead in Bamburi area along the Mombasa-Malindi highway in August 2012 while in the company of family members.

Kitalia further stated that the late Sheikh Abubakar Makaburi had become wary of the youths over their suspicions that he might be diverting the funds to funding radicalization and terror activities.

The police officer admitted that they did not do a follow up on that part of allegations from Makaburi since they considered it as a myth coming up as result of the shooting.

He further explained that the deceased’s family was never cooperative when he was put to task by Chief Magistrate Julius Nange’a to explain why they never asked for bank statements from the wife or the banking institutions he was associated with to establish the in depth of the said myth.

POSTMORTEM

He also said that they had learned from a witness who refused to write a statement with the police that Rogo’s van was spread with bullets by two young men of Arab origin.

Kitalia also informed the court that the police did not have a scientific proof or a death certificate that Rogo was really killed on that material day.

“We did not conduct a postmortem since the rowdy youths never allowed the police to collect the body,” said Kitalia.

He revealed that to determine his death, they relied on a video clip they obtained from Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) which was filmed by the media which showed a body of a man being carried away from the scene.

He also said that they were informed where he was buried but they have never visited the alleged graveyard.

Kitalia stated to the court that they had suggested to the director of public prosecution to grant them a permit to exhume the body in order to carry out a postmortem but the DPP instead suggested an inquest into the matter be heard in court.

Kitalia, who was the last witness in the inquest, said the investigations were still active since several incidents like violence and murder of a police officer took place after the killings. The ruling on the inquest has been set for October 21.