The saga surrounding Deputy President William Ruto’s botched trip to Ugand a took a nasty, diplomatic turn yesterday after a Turkish national with whom he was supposed to fly to Uganda was dramatically arrested at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport, shortly after touching down from Kampala.
A Ugandan businessman, Paul Bamutaze, who was on the same flight, and who has filed a case at the East African Court of Justice wanting utterances made by Kenyan politicians against the Uganda National Resistance Movement (NRM) declared unlawful, was deported by road back to his country.
The dramatic detention of the two started when officers from the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) stormed the runway at Wilson Airport at about 10am. In their sights was one of three passengers in a chartered plane arriving from Uganda.
Immediately the plane came to a halt, they arrested Mr Harun Aydin, the man who has found himself at the centre of the controversial trip to Uganda that had the DP embarrassingly stopped from boarding a plane at the same airport at the last minute.
Although Dr Ruto was prevented from going to Uganda on Monday, his entourage of politicians and close business associates was allowed to fly. The team came back on Tuesday minus Mr Aydin, whom the Sunday Nation has established was being hosted by Mr Bamutaze in Kampala.
Ruto ally: DP was also barred from flying to Tanzania
While Mr Aydin sojourned in Kampala, a storm was brewing in Kenya over the nature of his relationship with Dr Ruto, especially on what exactly they were going to do in Uganda. Part of the answers to these questions came yesterday through a raw display of power by the State.
Mr Bamutaze, Mr Aydin and another person whose identity we could not verify by last evening had chartered a jet to Nairobi yesterday morning. Unknown to them, they were flying straight into a trap and a day of high drama in the Kenyan capital.
On the ground waiting for them at Wilson was Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi, who has repeatedly said that Mr Aydin is a businessman looking to expand his interests in Nairobi and Kampala. Behind them, hiding in plain sight, were heavily armed ATPU officers.
Before Mr Sudi could realise what was going on, one of his guests, Mr Aydin, had been placed under police custody. Mr Bamutaze, sensing danger, immediately called Mr Sudi to tell him what had happened, and then from this point things suddenly started moving very fast.
Mr Sudi attempted to rescue Mr Aydin by forcing himself into a government van that was supposed to transport the Turkish national to a police station. The van, under heavy security, drove from Wilson Airport to the ATPU headquarters on Ngong Road.
“I made it clear that if indeed Mr Aydin is a terrorist, then I should be the first one to be arrested,” said Mr Sudi of his ordeal later.
“They allege they want to interrogate him but they are trying to provoke the Deputy President because he remained silent when they blocked him from travelling.”
Once the vehicle Mr Sudi and Mr Aydin were in reached the gate of ATPU headquarters, the Kapseret legislator was thrown out and the Turkish national driven in. Meanwhile, word had started going round about Mr Aydin’s arrest and politicians, depending on what side they stand, waded in.
“This is the best illustration of the adage, ‘Show me you friends and I will tell you who you are’,” said Jubilee vice-chairperson David Murathe. “See the kind of friends a man who wants to lead the country is keeping.”
But he was quickly countered by Elgeyo-Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, who said “Harun is an investor recognised by government of Kenya and issued with a valid Class G permit”, and that “the only reason he has been arrested is that the authorities are embarrassed after blocking the DP from going to Uganda and they want to continue the pettiness they have displayed for the last four years”.
“(Mr) Aydin is a victim of top-down arrogance bred by patronage and cartels that criminalise enterprise,” he tweeted. “Importers’ goods declared contraband, Africa spirits closed, Keroche harassed, now investor with valid papers labelled terrorist. Tragedy of political pettiness.”
However, despite these claims, the State’s security agencies decided to keep mum the whole of yesterday on why Mr Aydin had been arrested.
Calls by the Sunday Nation to the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, under whose authority the ATPU operates, were not answered.
Nevertheless, Mr Aydin’s friends quickly martialed lawyers Ahmednassir Abdullahi and Cliff Ombeta to try and secure his release, or at least know why he was under police custody.
Mr Abdullahi spent some time outside the ATPU headquarters before leaving in a huff after being denied entry.
“Apparently, the right to counsel of one's choice doesn’t apply to Mr Aydin,” he protested in a tweet. “I have been denied access to see him, allegedly on orders from above.”
Mr Ombetta wondered whether the government was trying to indicate that “it gave a terrorist a work permit”, noting that this was “an embarrassing situation” for the government.
Also barred from seeing Mr Aydin were security officials from the Turkish Embassy who had been sent to try and secure his release, or at least find out what was going on.
They were not only prevented from seeing him, but also not allowed past the ATPU entrance gate. Also denied entry were diplomatic police officers.
On Tuesday, the Turkish Embassy told the Nation that Mr Aydin was a clean businessman who had been in Kenya on several occasions, and that he has no criminal record.
“He is an investor who has invested a lot of money in businesses across Kenya. Those spoiling his name by saying he is a terrorist are spoiling Kenya’s name,” he said. “How can you say that someone who has invested in Kenya is a terrorist? That is how we destroy our country.”
Addressing the press yesterday at the ATPU headquarters, Mr Bamutaze, whom we later learnt from intelligence sources that he was deported last evening, said Mr Aydin’s detention was unfortunate.
“Even while in Uganda there were a lot of reports that he was a terrorist. We can only appeal to the people responsible to keep politics out of business,” said Mr Bamutaze, who has filed a case against ODM MPs at the East African Court of Justice.
In the suit papers, Mr Bamutaze, who is also a member of the NRM, has accused ODM MPs of making demeaning statements against Uganda that have affected the country’s reputation.
The MPs, led by Mr Junet Mohamed, had asked Dr Ruto to come clean on the ideals he is borrowing from NRM, whose record on governance and democracy, they said, is wanting.
While Mr Bamutaze was sent back to his country, the whereabouts of Mr Aydin or his condition were unknown by last evening. He cannot speak English and his translator was prevented from seeing him. The DP’s allies and bloggers allied to him, however, claimed that the state was planning to deport Mr Aydin.
