A Kenyan government minister has claimed that the country’s national intelligence service was behind the kidnapping of his son last year, as criticism continues over rising cases of kidnappings.
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi said it took a call from President William Ruto for his son to be released by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Muturi is the first cabinet member to publicly criticize the government’s handling of the wave of kidnappings in Kenya.
In a statement to the police crime investigation unit, Muturi gave a detailed account of how his son, Leslie, was abducted on June 22 last year.
Mr Ruto and the intelligence agency have not commented on his allegations.
At least 80 people, including the minister’s son, have been kidnapped in the past six months, according to a state-funded rights group.
Earlier this week, the minister told journalists that he had received no response about his son’s kidnapping despite contacting top security officials.
Muturi said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) subsequently urged him to record a statement with them, telling him the case was still under investigation.
In his statement to the DCI, Muturi recalled calling the Inspector General of Police, the Home Secretary, the DCI chief, the intelligence chief and other top officials as he desperately searched for his son – but he added that they are all unable to help.
He said he had also sent a message to Ruto, but later decided to visit his official residence to raise the matter directly with him.
“Then I related the ordeal [to the president] including my interactions with several senior government officials who had been unable to assist. I expressed my belief that the NIS was holding my son,” Muturi said in the statement.
He said the president made a joke about the issue and then called the intelligence chief, who promised to release his son within an hour.
“I heard the president ask [NIS director] Noordin Haji as he held my son. [He] confirmed that he was indeed holding my son and the President instructed him to release Leslie immediately,” Muturi added.
Muturi has faced calls from some government-affiliated politicians to resign after publicly criticizing the government in which he serves.
The wave of kidnappings began after protests against tax increases last June and has continued since then.
Some of the abductees have been released under public pressure.
Foreigners have also been kidnapped, including prominent Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai, who on Monday told how she was abducted by armed men and released hours later.
Last year, Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was kidnapped in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, allegedly by Ugandan security officials, and taken across the border for trial by court-martial.
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