Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has weighed in on Cabinet Secretary for Public Service and Human Capital Development Justin Muturi’s statement regarding his son’s abduction.
According to the police statement recorded by the CS at Kilimani Police Station on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, his son, Leslie Muturi, was kidnapped on June 22, 2024, by armed hooded gangsters along Dennis Pritt Road.
Speaking to a local radio station on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, Sifuna described the incident as a negative direction for the country.
“We have come to a point where members of the cabinet are coming out to say that the country is headed in the wrong direction,” he said.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) secretary general defended the cabinet secretary in response to remarks made by certain leaders questioning why he had not addressed the case sooner. He described Muturi’s actions as driven by parental instincts.
“All of us have parental instincts. Our children are where we draw the line. I would absolutely go to war over my child,” he said
The lawmaker further emphasized the need for a country that serves everyone, stating that the recent incidents of abductions have made Kenya a laughingstock in the region.
“If a member of a cabinet’s child can be abducted the way he (Leslie) was abducted, then no one is safe,” he said.
According to Sifuna, the cabinet secretary’s statement has confirmed that President William Ruto is aware of abduction cases reported in the country.
“If you go to the president, and luckily for CS Muturi he has access to him, and tell him, ‘release my son,’ and he makes one phone call and indeed the child is released, that tells you the person doing it,” he said.
“The person with power and the person saying he can stop things from happening is the person doing it.”
Muturi’s statement
In his police statement, the CS recounted receiving a frantic call from his daughter-in-law, Wairimu, who informed him about the incident
He then attempted to contact Leslie and locate him through various security agencies, including the Inspector General of Police, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), and the National Intelligence Service (NIS), but he had no success.
Muturi says he gained access to CCTV footage that revealed the identities of the vehicles trailing Leslie’s car before the abduction.
“The footage showed Leslie driving out, followed by Mwenje. The footage also captured the box Prado and another vehicle, resembling a Probox, following Leslie and Mwenje prior to the abduction,” he said.
Ruto’s intervention
After numerous attempts to trace Leslie, Muturi escalated the matter to President William Ruto.
“Knowing the President had been attending a church service in Nyandarua, I decided to drive to State House to see him in person. I then narrated the ordeal, including my interactions with various senior government officials who had been unable to help. I expressed my belief that NIS was holding my son. The President joked, asking why anyone would want to arrest a young person over the GenZ demonstrations,” the statement read.
Muturi then asked President Ruto to personally contact NIS Director Noordin Haji to inquire about Leslie.
“Standing outside the 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 an hour,” he said.
The Cabinet Secretary revealed that his son was released shortly thereafter.
