Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has alleged that Kenya's intelligence agency was behind the abduction of his son last year.
In a statement made to DCI, he said the National Intelligence Service (NIS) took his son Leslie Muturi in Nairobi on June 22, 2024, and only released him after a phone call from President William Ruto at his insistence.
The fingering of the NIS in his official statement to the police puts Mr Muturi, a former National Assembly Speaker who ditched President Uhuru Kenyatta to side with President Ruto in the 2022 elections, on a collision path with the State.
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The statement also throws a spanner in the works in the mystery of the ongoing abductions. The government has denied the kidnappings were being undertaken by the State, but the President and senior officials have warned parents and the youth to avoid social media “truancy”—a key issue seen by human rights activists as a reason for the kidnappings.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has said about 82 Kenyans, including Mr Muturi’s son Leslie Muturi, had been abducted since June 2024, with more than 20 still missing. Five of those abducted in late December were released last week, most of them having been linked to anti-government social media posts.
In a statement he filed with the police yesterday, Mr Muturi narrated how he reached out to senior government officials to help locate his son to no avail.
The former Attorney-General said he personally called then Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki (now Deputy President), Internal Security Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo, NIS Director-General Noordin Haji, then Inspector-General of Police Japhet Koome, Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss Mohamed Amin, Anti-Terrorism Protection Unit boss Said Kiprotich Mohamed and Mr Amin’s deputy John Onyango, desperately looking for his son.
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In the end, Mr Muturi said, it took a call by President Ruto to Mr Haji, who he said had been ducking his calls for two days, to have Leslie released.
“Standing outside the (State House, Nairobi) 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 the hour,” Mr Muturi narrated in his written statement to the DCI.
When contacted by the Nation , Mr Muturi confirmed that the statement, which had been circulating on social media, was indeed his.
“Yes, that is my statement to the police giving an account of what transpired when my son was abducted,” he said.
Mr Muturi had, in an unprecedented move on Sunday, come out to condemn the wave of abductions and asked President Ruto to act, saying he was speaking as an affected parent.
The CS, in the statement to the police, said his son was abducted on June 22, 2024, shortly after he and his friends, including Embakasi West MP Mark Mwenje and another man identified as Marangu Imanyara, had had a drink at a restaurant in Kilimani before deciding to attend a birthday party in Lavington.
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Moments later, Leslie was abducted by hooded gunmen who jumped out of a white Prado brandishing AK-47 rifles. They forced him into their vehicle before speeding off. This account, Mr Muturi said, was given to him by his son’s wife and was confirmed to him by Mr Mwenje.
Immediately he was informed about the abduction, Mr Muturi said he called Mr Koome who informed him there was no such approved police operation and promised to circulate the information to police stations and give him an update.
Mr Muturi then called Dr Omollo, who assured him he would get to the bottom of the matter, before also calling both Mr Haji and Mr Amin, who did not pick his calls.
Worried, Mr Muturi said he called Mr Koome again. The IG informed him that he had alerted all personnel on all routes and that they suspected it was a common robbery.
By this time, Mr Muturi had rushed to the scene where Leslie had been abducted, and he again called Dr Omollo and informed him that he had contacted several agencies to assist in finding his son. But the PS, he said, was still inclined to believe Leslie’s case was a carjacking.
Around the same time, they received information that police officers from Kilimani had received CCTV footage from Royal Media Services through the help of Ndungu Gathenji (former Tetu MP) who convinced Mr Wachira Waruru, the CEO of the media house, to release the footage.
The footage showed Leslie driving out of the restaurant which is close to the media house, followed by Mr Mwenje.
Mr Muturi narrated that the Prado and another vehicle resembling a Probox followed the two friends before snatching Leslie.
At around 3am, the CS said he sent a WhatsApp message to President Ruto informing him of his son’s abduction. He told the police that he then called the ATPU boss since “this unit uses vehicles that resemble those involved in Leslie’s abduction”.
The CS then again called Mr Amin but his calls and messages went unanswered, forcing him to reach out to the DCI deputy boss John Onyango, who said he was unaware of any such operation, and that no such incident had been reported.
Similarly, the ATPU boss said that the unit had no such operation that night and it was not involved, Mr Muturi said in the statement.
“A friend from NIS called informing me that my son was being held by their people. I shared this message with my friends and it was agreed that I should call Noordin Haji again. Despite multiple attempts, he did not answer,” Mr Muturi indicated.
It is at this point that the CS decided to call Prof Kindiki, who he said was shocked upon hearing what had happened to Leslie.
“Fifteen minutes later, Prof Kindiki called back, saying he had spoken with the DG, NIS, who denied holding Leslie. Despite my insistence that I had confirmed information from an NIS officer, Prof Kindiki maintained that the DG could not be lying,” Mr Muturi noted.
Mr Muturi told the police he decided to drive to State House to meet the President in person. Upon arrival, he found Dr Ruto had just finished lunch with a group of legislators, including Mwangi Kiunjuri (Laikipia East) and John Kawanjiku (Kiambaa).
When told about the message Mr Muturi had sent him the previous night, the President explained that his phone had crashed due to an overload of messages.
The CS then narrated his ordeal, including his interactions with various government officials “who had been unable to help” and expressed his belief that NIS was holding Leslie.
In response, he told the police, the President joked, asking why anyone would want to arrest a young person over the Gen Z demonstrations and even mentioned that Mr Kiunjuri’s son and the sons of other officials had been involved in the protests.
The President made the call to Mr Haji, Mr Muturi said, and with an assurance that Leslie will be released in an hour, the CS rejoined his friends in Gigiri and informed them what had happened.
“Slightly over an hour later, Leslie called me to say he had been released and was at home. I then went home to see him,” the statement concluded.
Mr Muturi is the second senior-ranking government officer to publicly link the NIS, in the space of six months, to security issues and abductions in the country.
In late June 2024, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua dragged the NIS, accusing it of laxity in providing intelligence on the youth-led protests and Kenyans’ dissatisfaction with the Finance Bill, 2024. He would later in December allege the existence of an abductions squad in Nairobi city centre, which he said was not under police command.
“There is a unit in the city centre operating from the 21st floor of a building, led by a certain Mr Abel. We will reveal his second name in a week. This unit comprises personnel from various agencies but is not under the director of police. Abel is a cousin to a very senior government official,” Mr Gachagua told journalists during a briefing at his Mathira home in Nyeri County on December 27.
