Raila defend former DCI boss George Kinoti
Azimio One Kenya coalition co-principal, Raila Odinga has defended former Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti alleging witchhunt against him and other government officials who served in the immediate former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime.
Raila expressed sorrow that President William Ruto’s administration had turned “vindictive” at the state officials who had served under the previous administration under the pretense of conducting extrajudicial persecutions.
“Ruto seems to think that the establishment of his administration gives him the green light to punish the officers he has long harbored animosities towards. We’re here to reject,” he said.
The former prime minister emphasised that they would not stand by and allow the President carry out his agenda of punishing the officers for merely carrying out their duties.
“We oppose such attempts to sacrifice state personnel who may have offended the politicians while performing their duties,” he stated.
Raila criticised the ensuing of selective punishment meted out to Kinoti and other state officials by the previous regime as being unfair.
He asked for an equally robust probe into the search and deaths of other Kenyans while highlighting Ruto’s effort to locate the two missing Indians who were to be part of his presidential campaign team and their taxi driver.
As a result, Raila requested that the President look into the murders of several people, including Sergent Kipyegon Kenei, who was part of his office while he was Deputy President.
Before giving a statement at the DCI on the fictitious armaments sale for Sh39.5 billion connected to the office of the Deputy President, Kenei, an Administration Police Officer, passed away in February 2020.
It was established that the strange murder of Christopher Koech, a witness at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the case of the late attorney Paul Gicheru, is another matter that Raila wants the President to look into.
At the beginning of Ruto’s administration, Kinoti resigned, sparking a wave of claims that he was the head of a renegade agency from Ruto’s allies.
On October 16, the President took decisive actions and dissolved the DCI Special Service Unit (SSU), formerly known as the flying squad.
Nine officers who were part of the squad are already in court and part of the investigations into the disappearance of the driver and the two Indians.
Kinoti has witnessed his former senior officials turn tables and accuse him of orchestrating the criminal prosecution of prominent politicians, including Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
The high percentage of unsuccessful convictions that his office has had, also has been attributed to Kinoti by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji.
