By TONY KAGO 

An MP was yesterday handed a stark choice by a murder trial judge: become a suspect in the case or record a statement with the Director of Public Prosecutions.

If the statement by Juju MP Stephen Ndicho helped the trial, the DPP would forward it to the court and the MP would be summoned and given a chance to clear his name, said Mr Justice Alex Etyang.

He gave the order after Mr Ndicho, who had been mentioned adversely during the trial, asked through his lawyer for a chance to prove his innocence.

Two of the defence lawyers had on Wednesday demanded that Mr Ndicho be summoned to explain where and how he recovered a bag with photographs of some of the suspects. They also accused a policeman of shielding the MP during the investigation.

The judge ruled yesterday however that Mr Ndicho's application to be heard was without merit and was an abuse of the court process because it was not provided for in law.

Thirteen people are on trial at the High Court in Nairobi for the murder of former Githurai ward councillor Charles Maina Wanjuguna during the night of June 10-11, 2000.

They are former Ruiru mayor Stanley Njoroge Munene, his deputy Peter Mwaura, councillors Samuel Kahia, Francis Ng'ang'a and Thuo Thiong'o, and Mr Julius Mulandi, Mr Stephen Wachira Wanderi, Mr James Kariuki, Mr Bernard Muiruri, Mr Stephen Ngugi and Mr Anthony Njenga Mulondo.

Cllr Wanjuguna was contesting for the Ruiru mayor's seat when he was murdered.

When the case resumed yesterday, Mr Ndicho's lawyer Mr Gitobu Imanyara, said the MP had been adversely introduced in the case and had never been asked by police to record a statement.

"He seeks permission to offer himself so that he can not only deny this highly malicious and scandalous allegations but also face those making the allegation in court", he said.

The judge asked the assessors to disregard the claim that the MP had been mentioned maliciously and scandalously. It was part of the court record , the judge said, adding he would remind them of it while summing up the case.

Principal state counsel Dorcus Oduor said the state would decide what to do if Mr Ndicho recorded a statement.

Defence lawyer Murithii Mbugua said," We are at a loss why the MP wants to be enjoined. It is not the defence that dragged his name into these proceedings. We take great exception to the aspersions that the defence maliciously and scandalously made the allegation".

He said the MP introduced himself into the investigations when he presented exhibits to police and had himself to blame.

When the defence earlier accused Corporal Hesbon Esendi, who was among the first people at the murder scene in Mwihoko village, of shielding Mr Ndicho, Mr Esendi told the court that the MP, together with the victim's brother, presented the bag of photographs to the police at a patrol base.

They handed it over a week after Mr Wanjuguna, was murdered at his home in Thika.

He quoted the MP as saying the bag was retrieved from a ditch near a fence. But the two lawyers, Mr Kioko Kilukumi and Mr Francis Njanja, accused the police of destroying evidence.

The hearing continues.