A Kenyan government minister has claimed that the country's National Intelligence Agency was behind his son's kidnapping last year, as criticism continues against rising kidnapping cases.
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi said it took a call from President William Ruto to have his son released by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Muturi is the first member of the government to publicly criticize the government's handling of the wave of kidnappings in Kenya.
In a statement to the police Criminal Investigation Unit on Tuesday, Mutoruri gave a detailed account of how his son Leslie was kidnapped 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.
The wave of kidnapping began after protests against tax increases last June, and has continued since then.
Some of the kidnapped people were released after popular pressure.
Earlier this week, the minister told reporters that he had not received answers about his son's kidnapping, despite communicating with senior security officials.
Muturi said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations then urged him to register a statement with them, telling him that the matter was still under investigation.
In his statement to the Director of National Intelligence, Muturi recalled his contact with the Inspector General of Police, the Interior Minister, the head of the Directorate of National Intelligence, the head of the intelligence agency and other senior officials while he was desperately searching for his son – but, he added, all of them knew about it. Unable to help.
He said he also wrote to Ruto, but later decided to visit his official residence to raise the matter with him directly.
“I then narrated the ordeal (to the president) including my dealings with several senior government officials who were unable to help. I expressed my belief that NIS is holding my son,” Muturi said in the statement.
He said that the president made a joke about the matter and then called the head of the intelligence service, who promised to release his son within an hour.
“I heard the president asking (Director of National Intelligence) Noureddine Hajj whether he was detaining my son. He confirmed that he was indeed detaining my son and the president ordered him to release Leslie immediately,” Muturi added.
Muturi has faced calls from some politicians allied with the government to resign due to his public criticism of the government in which he serves.
Foreign nationals have also been kidnapped, including prominent Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai, who on Monday told how she was kidnapped by armed men and then released several hours later.
Last year, Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was kidnapped in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, allegedly by Ugandan security officials, and then taken across the border to be tried before a military court.
