A day after it emerged that head of Neno Evangelism Centre Apostle James Maina Ng’ang’a could be charged in court over an accident that left a woman dead, details are out on how a senior police officer called the officer in charge of traffic in Limuru with concise instructions to “sort out” the televangelist’s woes.
Sources in the know revealed that detectives that were handling the matter established that Pastor Ng’ang’a may have been the one driving the vehicle involved in the fatal crash.
As Kenyans waited for word on the final probe report, information obtained show how the senior officer in question called the Limuru Divisional Traffic Officer Patrick Baya asking him to “assist” the preacher over the accident.
It is this call that is suspected to have prompted officers in Limuru to immediately tow the preacher’s Ranger Rover from the scene to Nairobi.
Ng’ang’a, who was grilled for several hours by a group of senior Traffic officers, is said to have hitched a ride in one of his escort cars.
It also emerged that the influential police chief’s wife is a member of Ng’ang’a’s church and might have prevailed upon him to ask his juniors in Limuru to ‘sort out the matter’.
Following public uproar in the wake of the accident, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet immediately came to the defence of the controversial pastor on the accusation that he may have killed a motorist on Sunday July 26 on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway.
The IG, however, later backtracked and ordered fresh investigations amid mounting public outrage and claims of a cover-up while prompting the question of who could be trying so desperately and why, to cover for the pastor.
Boinnet had initially claimed the person who was driving the vehicle was not pastor Ng’ang’a but the Range Rover was driven by one Simon Maina Kuria who at the time was out on Sh 20,000 bail.
“The Range Rover was on General Dealers (KG) licence with valid insurance and was on test drive when the accident occurred,” Boinnet had said on his official Twitter account. “The Range Rover was inspected, and released.
Spotlight was later focused on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations over allegations of interfering with data records surrounding the case.
Detectives that were handling the case were left perplexed by explanations given by officers from the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU), the DCI wing that tracks telephone data and communications over the pastor’s communication interactions on the material day.
The officers were only able to provide data and call details of July 22, 23, 24, 25, 28 and 29, but claim those of July 26 and 27, were missing due to machine breakdown. The accident occurred on July 26 and statements taken the following day.
The fuzzy details surrounding the case elicited public outrage and claims of cover up by the security agencies.