Otieno Ambala who at one time served as assistant minister for culture. He was charged with the murder of Horace Ongili a member of parliament who had defeated him in the 1983 election.
The murder of Ongili was described as the most gruesome political assassination after that of JM Kariuki. The mp’s badly mutilated body was found in a maize plantation near his home.
Apart from being a politician, Ambala was a prominent businessman with great investments in real estate and in the energy sector. He supplied fuel as far afield as Rwanda.
The prosecution claimed that Ambala had withdrawn 1,000, 000 KES from Barclays Bank Kisumu branch prior to the murder of his arch political rival hon Ongili . It was alleged that the money was used to pay the assassins.
However according to his family, Ambala had withdrawn the money to pay off some of his debts.
Ironically on the day Ongili was being buried, Ambala collapsed and died of an alleged heart attack at Kodiaga prison where he had been remanded. Many suspected foul play.
