Former Nakuru Town MP David Manyara stands in the dock at the Nakuru Law Courts. Trial judge Justice Daniel Musinga returned a verdict of not guilty and released him.
Jubilation rent the air in Nakuru yesterday after former MP David Manyara and 12 suspected Mungiki members accused of murder were set free due to lack of evidence.
Manyara said he had forgiven those who had linked him with the murder.
"It was political, there is no way I could have organised to kill people I had served for many years and knowing well that I had future political ambitions, " he said.
He said he was saddened that hundreds lost their lives in the skirmishes.
Hundreds of jubilant supporters of Manyara broke into song and dance when the 13, who had languished in remand for close to two years, were freed by Justice Daniel Musinga.
Manyara's wife Mary and daughter Jacqueline Wangechi shed tears of joy on being re-united with their loved one as other relatives scrambled to reach him on the dock.
Immediately after Manyara and his co-accused were cleared by the prison officials at the court basement cells, they boarded a pick up and made a triumphant entry into the town.
Manyara acknowledged cheers from hundreds of people, who had lined up along the busy Kenyatta Avenue, as the procession snaked its way slowly into town.
The former MP made a stop-over at the Railway Ground, where he addressed a crowd.
Manyara's lawyers Karanja Mbugua and Gordon Ogolla who accompanied him in the tour of the town, said they would sue the State for malicious prosecution.
Manyara and his co-accused were arrested after violence rocked Nakuru town when suspected Mungiki adherents hacked innocent people to death.
Set free alongside the former lawmaker were John Njenga, Jeremiah Muturi, Jeremiah Wanjiku, Duncan Ndichu, John Kiaye, Samuel Maina, Peter Githuka, Francis Njoroge, Paul Kimani, Mto Mkoloi, Kariuki Mugo and David Wanyoike.
They had been charged that on January 5, 2003 at Flamingo, Kimathi and Lakeview estates they murdered 10 people.
A shoddy work by the prosecution earned the suspects their freedoms.
In his hour-long ruling, Musinga wondered how the prosecution had closed its case without calling the head of the investigation team, Superintendent (rtd) Jonathan Chelule.
The judge gave the accused benefit of doubt, while ruling on whether they had a case to answer.
He particularly pointed out that the case against Manyara was " totally wanting and too weak to sustain such serious charges as murder". He said the evidence of Chief Inspector Leonard Lutta, who had linked the former MP with murder, could not hold water since he was relying on an untruthful informer.
The judge said the informer took the police in a wild goose chase to various places in Nairobi to look for the MP who all along had been at his house in Bondeni.
In fact, the court noted, Manyara helped police repair the vehicle at his garage to enable them pursue the killers.
"The accused did not behave in a strange manner since he presented himself at the Rift Valley Provincial police headquarters after being informed that police were looking for him," the judge said.
The judge further said the police did not produce the brand new pangas that the politician was alleged to have purchased for the killers.