Public Service and Human Capital Development Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi addressing journalists at Serena Hotel, Nairobi, on January 12, 2025.
Cabinet Secretary for Public Service and Human Capital Development Justin Muturi says he does not fear being sacked by President William Ruto for speaking out against the administration's handling of the abduction crisis in the country.
On Sunday, Mr Muturi publicly broke ranks with the government in which he serves and demanded an end to extra-judicial operations targeting perceived enemies and critics of the Kenya Kwanza regime.
On Monday, he told Nation that he does not have any fears of a possible sacking for taking this route.
“What fear?” he posed when reached by the Nation, adding that he has put God fast in the event Dr Ruto decides to dismiss him. “Mungu mbele (God first),” he said.
The CS had raised concerns that more than six months after his son Leslie Muturi’s ordeal at the hands of an unknown kidnapper, he had not been charged with any offence and nobody had explained why he was abducted and held incommunicado.
“I am fully aware of the doctrine of collective responsibility, but since I am also a victim of the abductions and … I have not gotten any answers, I have taken this unusual step so that the matter can be debated honesty and openly as a country with a view to finding a lasting solution to this issue which if left unchecked has the potential to plunge the country into chaos and anarchy,” Mr Muturi said on Sunday.
Asked whether he had tendered his resignation, Mr Muturi said he had not. However, a source at State House Nairobi on Monday confided in the Nation that his ‘resignation’ had been “received” without giving details.
Senior government officials
Another source privy to happenings in the civil service revealed that two more senior government officials would tender their resignations this week.
"Two more senior government officials, among them a Cabinet Secretary, are set to resign from the Kenya Kwanza Administration in the coming days for political reasons," said the source.
"Some senior government officials, with future political ambitions, mainly from the Mt Kenya region, are becoming increasingly uncomfortable working in the Kenya Kwanza administration and some have decided to quit early for the sake of their political ambitions. They say they have listened to the ground and people want them to work with former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.”
Mr Muturi, however, insisted that his statement on the state of abductions, illegal detentions, and enforced disappearances was not political.
“I’m seeking to have a discussion on this matter of abduction so that we can find a solution. We must find what the problem is and try to come up with solutions, openly without any fear of intimidation,” said Mr Muturi.
President Ruto, he said, had expressed the desire to see an end to the abductions, adding that “I believe he is fully cognisant of the potential that these shenanigans have to plunge the country into total anarchy.”
Open discussion
He said there is an urgent need for open discussion where people are at liberty to express themselves as they wish, noting that despite having been a member the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC) when he served as attorney-general at the time of his son’s abduction, he was never given any explanation on the matter.
“I reached out to all levels of security apparatus in the country. Everybody who was in the security sector knows that on that particular night, I reached out to all of them but got no answers.”
“I believe that since we are told it is not the government that is involved, there is a need to deal with those who are doing this.”
Abductions and enforced disappearances have become almost a daily occurrence in Kenya, with more than 10 people reported missing after being picked up by people suspected to be police in December alone.
In its latest report released in late December, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said at least 82 cases of abductions had been reported since June 2024, with 29 of these cases not yet resolved.
Five of the 29 people who were captured were released last week but another four were reported missing in Mlolongo, Machakos County.
According to a State of National Security report tabled in Parliament last week, the country witnessed a 44 percent increase in kidnappings and abductions between September 2023 and August 2024.
The report shows that there were a total of 52 kidnapping cases between September 2023 and August 2024, compared to 36 cases recorded between September 2022 and September 2023.
The cases were recorded in the eight regions of the country namely Nairobi, Rift Valley, Coast, Eastern, Western, Nyanza, Central and North Eastern.
The rising wave of abductions has seen activists hold demonstrations in various parts of the country to condemn the government's attempts to silence critics and to push for their release. In response, the government has been unleashing armed police officers on them, arresting and illegally detaining their leaders.
