Imagine serving a 30 years jail term for offense you know nothing about. Well, if his words is anything to go by, this is the sad story of Clement Munyaob Katiku, a neurosurgeon formerly working at Kenyatta National Hospital.
Like many other neurosurgeon, Clement Munyao has a decorated academic profile. In 1980, he graduated at University of Nairobi with Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery. He proceeded to graduate with Masters of Human Medicine and Pathology in 1987. Thereafter , he headed to Scotland, UK, where he pursued masters in human forensic medicine and Pathology and graduated in 1990.
Clement’s woes began in 2009 after what like a blessing.
On the fateful day, Munyao’s daughter was set to report at Moi Kabarak University in Eldoret. She however insisted that she would not go all the way to Eldoret without a phone.
“My daughter told me that she won’t travel all the way to Eldoret without a phone for communication. I tried to persuade that I would buy her a phone during the holiday but she insisted she need one before reporting,” he told Inooro Tv Journalist.
Coincidentally, a young man he had assisted secure a mortuary attendant job at Kenyatta Hospital approached him for help. He urgently need Ksh. 1000 to attend to a burial back home at Makueni. In what appeared like a blessing in disguise, he offered to exchange his phone for the money.
“I didn’t have the cash. I took my car, rushed to the bank and signed petty voucher of four thousand shillings. Infact I handed the young man two thousand shillings. The rest I gave my daughter. I also gave her the phone.”
Few days later, Clement Munyao began receiving suspicious calls from unknown people. They would call and hang up.
“So one afternoon my boss informed me that some people were looking for me. I welcomed them and later discovered that they were officers from Directorate of Criminal Investigation.”
According to Munyao, the officers disclosed to him that they were holding his daughter and her boyfriend at Kilimani Police station. Upon inquiry, he was informed that Justus, his daughter’s boyfriend, was found in possession of a phone that was linked to a crime. They further told him that daughter had disclosed that she received the phone from her dad.
The officers further informed Munyao that the Phone in question belong to former Police Commissioner Mathiu Iteere’s brother who was murdered by robbers and phones stolen.
“I explained to them that I had bought the phone from a young man. They drove me to Makueni where we traced the young man as the burial was going on. The young man said that he bought the phone from her aunt. We drove to her aunt who said that she got the phone from her husband. Husband said that she got the phone from Mathiu Iteere’s manager.“
By the end of investigation, the list of suspects had multiplied to 9 people, spanning from Munyao’s daughter’s boyfriend to Iteere’s home manager.
The 9 suspects were locked at Kilimani Police station.
“At one point I got very mad on why I was being held at police station yet I shown who sold the phone to me. I demanded to see the OCS, who told me that I would only be released by court because they had already taken my finger print.“
During the initial court process, Clement Munyao was sentenced to death. He appealed the case and the appeal was dismissed.
Speaking about life in prison, Munyao had this to say ,” Please…Never desire to go in prison. If you your son has been taken to police station don’t waste time. ..Rush and settle the matter at police station. Once you come here, life will no longer be the same.”
Clement Munyao is a reflection of several other Kenyans whose fate lands them undeserving sentences.
