Is NIS the abductor in chief?: CS Muturi links top spy agency to abductions

 

In what could further ruffle feathers in the Kenya kwanza administration, a Cabinet Secretary has directly linked the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to the wave of abductions witnessed in the country since last year’s Gen Z protests.

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi yesterday blamed the intelligence body and its boss, Nordin Haji, for the abduction of his son, Leslie Muturi.

According to the CS, it took the intervention of President William Ruto to have his son freed after Haji ignored his calls and those of then-Interior Cabinet Secretary Kindiki Kithure, who is now the Deputy President.

Muturi was the country’s Attorney General at the time the widely-reported incident happened.

Leslie was abducted at around 9:30pm by hooded gunmen from his vehicle on his way to a party in Lavington, while in the company of Embakasi West MP Mark Mwenye and his driver, Marangu Imanyara on June 22, 2024.

Muturi says he called then Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome and Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo asking for their help in tracing his son.

“I also attempted to reach the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Mr. Mohammed Amin, but his phones went unanswered. I tried calling the NIS DG, Noordin Haji, but he did not answer either,” reads Muturi’s statement to the DCI.

After an hour, he called Koome, who informed him he had alerted all personnel on all routes as the police suspected it was a robbery incident.

“However, I told him that based on the information provided by Mwenje, the abductors appeared to be security personnel rather than robbers. He seemed unconvinced, stating that there was no planned police operation that night.”

Muturi says he called Omollo, who said that they were looking for his son but insisted that it could be a carjacking incident.

In the statement to the police, Muturi says he and his friends called Citizen TV requesting for CCTV footage that captured two vehicles that had trailed his son’s car before he was abducted.

According to the CS, he sent WhatsApp messages to the President at around 3am, informing him that his son had been abducted.

Armed with information on the vehicles they believed had been used in the abduction of his son, Muturi says he reached out to the head of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, Said Kiprotich Mohammed, who did not answer his calls.

Multiple attempts

He also reached out to Amin’s deputy, John Onyango, who said he did not know of any police operation that night, adding that he would look into the matter.

The ATPU boss, Kiprotich, called back, saying that his officers did not have Leslie in custody and there was no ongoing operation.

After making little headway, Muturi says he decided to call Haji after he received information from a friend working with NIS that they were holding his son. “Despite multiple attempts, he did not answer.”

Muturi states that he decided to call Kindiki, who expressed shock over the allegation that NIS was holding Leslie, but promised to get back and when he did, he said that Haji told him they did not have the AG’s son. “Despite my insistence that I had confirmed information from an NIS officer, Prof. Kindiki maintained that the DG could not be lying.”

The following day, on Sunday, June 23, President Ruto had not read the message Muturi sent him, and when he saw choppers that he assumed were transporting the President back to State House, he rushed to the house on the hill.

When he arrived, he says he found out that the President had been in a meeting with MPs, including Mwangi Kiunjuri (Laikipia East) and John Kawanjiku (Kiambaa).

He says he informed him about the message and his own investigations which revealed that NIS was holding his son.

“The President joked, asking why anyone would want to arrest a young person over the Gen Z demonstrations. He even mentioned that Kiunjuri’s son and the sons of other officials had been involved in similar demonstrations.”

He says that Ruto complained about his phone not functioning properly due to the number of messages he was receiving.

“Standing outside the pavilion, I heard the President ask Noordin Haji if he was holding my son, Noordin confirmed that, indeed, he was holding my son, and the President instructed him to release Leslie immediately. Noordin responded that Leslie would be released within an hour,” says Muturi.

“Slightly over an hour later, Leslie called me to say he had been released and was at home,” he concludes in the statement.

We reached out to Haji for comment but he did not pick our calls or respond to our text messages.

While addressing the press after presenting the statement to Kilimani DCI, yesterday Muturi dared his critics to make good their word that they would impeach him.

“I will just say bring it on, at my age, I am not the kind of person to respond to some perfunctory statements made by fairly inexperienced politicians,” said Muturi.

He was responding to calls for him to apologise to President William Ruto, resign or have censure and impeachment motions against him tabled in Parliament.

The calls were made by South Mugirango MP Sylvanus Osoro and his Aldai counterpart Marianne Kitany.

“If anyone thinks I do not know what I am doing, then they are up for a rude shock,” he said, adding that his decision to call out the government was the right thing to do.

Asked why he came out now to condemn the abductions, he said he was doing it for Kenyans.

The CS vowed that he would not resign but added that he is not afraid of being sacked. “I am not under any pressure (to resign).”

He said condemnation of the abductions had come from many people, including the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, wondering why he was being singled out.

“As the government, we have been saying that we do not recognise or approve abductions and that is what I am saying,” he said.

Muturi was speaking at the Kilimani Police Station where he had gone to record a statement in connection with the abduction of his son on June 22, 2024.

“I came here in obedience to the challenge thrown at me by the DCI to record a statement on what I knew,” stated Muturi.

According to the CS, he feels that the statement will do little to aid the probe since he did not know much about it.

“I have nothing to hide; it is a fact that my son was abducted, it is also a fact that he was held incommunicado for several hours and indeed he was later released, I do not know by who.”

He added that the DCI informed him that they had recorded statements from three other people who were with Leslie when he was abducted and later freed.

Muturi said that DCI officers told him that they had recorded statements from Embakasi West MP Mwenje, his driver and Marango Imanyara.