Dennis Itumbi: My job, abduction and Bogonko Bosire's disappearance
Mr Dennis Itumbi.
Dennis Itumbi, a close ally of President William Ruto, has revealed that his job nowadays involves running errands for the government at a time when public perception holds that he is among loyalists who are yet to be rewarded with plum state jobs.
In a recent interview with Citizen TV, Mr Itumbi clarified that his job is voluntary for now, but will by mid this month become more defined to Kenyans as he works on a project that will see the government tell its development stories in a unique way.
“My job is that of come here, go there. A very interesting job. It has a job description and its contract is with the people of Kenya through the President of the Republic.... The come here go there is working very well and I am a happy man. For the moment it is voluntary job," he said.
'I want them exposed'
In the interview, he also delved into the subject of his alleged abduction in December 2021. At the time, he was reported missing after he was allegedly kidnapped in Thindigua area on Kiambu Road.
He was found hours later, with associates indicating he had been beaten, and was receiving treatment at a local hospital.
"This was done by rogue police officers. It was done at the behest of senior rogue officers," adding that he has forgiven them.
"I want them to be identified. I hope there will be a commission on state capture so that they are exposed."
He also blamed rogue police officers for the disappearance two Indians who were working with Dr Ruto's campaign team last year.
Bogonko's disappearance
Missing blogger Bogonko Bosire.
Mr Itumbi has also termed those who link him to the disappearance of journalist cum blogger Bogonko Bosire in September 2013 as noisemakers with hypocritical concern for a victim whose suffering they watched without helping.
Both Itumbi and Bosire had graduated from the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) in 2004 where they had done Broadcast Journalism. They both worked in several media houses before converging in political activism. After getting fired by AFP news agency, Mr Bosire launched the popular but controversial Jackal News blog in 2011 that published sensational exposés.
“Most of the people who speak about Bogonko Bosire were not concerned about him when he was alive. These are all players who came when he was no longer being seen. There is no confirmation about his death but due to his lengthy disappearance, there are those of us who believe that he may be dead. But there is brutal hope that one day he will probably just appear,” he said.
According to the law, a person who has been missing for seven years can be declared dead. This in turn can lead to a public inquest. However, this can only be triggered by the family, but his kin, still coming to terms with his disappearance, are yet to do so.
"Bogonko relationship with me was too close. He went to a rehab. None of these guys who make a lot of noise about the issue were around for him then. He was at one time kicked out of a job. I got him a job in Uhuru Kenyatta’s campaigns. None of these guys making a lot of noise were there for him when he was suffering in the streets,” says Mr Itumbi, adding that he has done enough to participate in the search for the blogger.
“I am the one who looked for his phone signal records, transactions when he got lost and to date, I keep my networks alive in the search.”
Listen below: Case Number Zero podcast on the day Bogonko disappeared
About HNIB
In the interview, he also revealed that during Dr Ruto’s presidential campaign he came up with the Hustler Nation Intelligence Bureau (HNIB), which fed Kenya Kwanza supporters with supposed leaks from the "deep state", claiming that “it had become such a force to a point that Uhuru would acknowledge in his state meetings that I know our deliberations will reach HNIB and Itumbi”.
“I used to meet my sources (to feed him with intelligence) in hospital wards because that was the most unimaginable place to detect...we were heavily tracked and traced,” he revealed.
