Kenyan politician murdered

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A member of parliament for Kenya's ruling party has been shot dead in a suburb of the capital, Nairobi.

Tony Ndilinge was shot just before dawn on Thursday in the first murder of a politician in the east African country in more than a decade.

Police said the motive for the killing of Ndilinge, a former assistant trade minister, was unclear.

Reuters news agency reported that one of his fellow MPs had said Ndilinge feared his life was in danger.

"He recorded a statement with police," opposition Social Democratic Party MP Kyalo Kaindi told Nation TV.

"What we are asking is what have the police done since he recorded his statement, saying he was sure his life was in danger."

Ndilinge was shot twice in the head by unknown assailants just after 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) as he parked his car outside a bar in the downmarket Githurai suburb of Nairobi.

His body was found with 20,000 Kenyan shillings ($250) in cash and cheques worth 45,000 shillings, local TV and radio stations reported.

His car was missing.

Armed robbery and carjackings are increasingly common in the Kenyan capital.

Last year, two ruling party MPs were also shot and wounded in an attempted robbery in the capital.

Ndilinge, 47, had been the MP for the constituency of Kilome in eastern Kenya since 1992, representing the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) party.

He was once a prominent KANU rebel, and his criticism of the government cost him his assistant minister's job in 1999.

Recently, however, he had reaffirmed his allegiance to President Daniel arap Moi.

He campaigned actively for KANU during last weekend's Taveta by-election, which KANU lost to the opposition Democratic Party.

The murder is a reminder of the brutal and mysterious death of Foreign Minister Robert Ouko in 1990, one of the many unsolved murders in Kenya's post-independence history.

Ouko's mutilated and charred body was found by a herdsman on a hill near his home, and the riddle of his killing continues to fascinate the country.

This week, Moi and senior cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott filed a libel lawsuit against former U.S. ambassador Smith Hempstone for writing a book alleging they murdered Ouko.

Moi and Biwott deny any role in his death.