Justin Muturi: Why I remained in Ruto's Cabinet despite my son's abduction
Recently, Muturi vowed to keep speaking out against abductions and extrajudicial killings despite his dismissal from President Ruto's Cabinet.
Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has explained why he stayed in government even after the abduction of his son.
His son, Leslie Muturi, was abducted by unknown individuals on June 22, 2024, and to date, no one has been charged, and no explanations have been provided.
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Speaking on Friday on NTV’s Fixing the Nation show, Muturi said he chose to stay in government as was he was advised by his close friends to stay put, believing his position would allow him to uncover critical information about the administration’s operations.
He said he did some soul-searching before deciding to remain in his post.
“I went through a lot of soul searching, and at that point I asked, is it worth it?” Muturi said.
“After consulting a number of close friends, many advised that I stay put. Maybe there is a lot more you could be able to gather about what your administration is doing.”
Since the alleged abduction of his son, the former CS has been an outspoken critic of the Kenya Kwanza government. He has called for answers, asserting that a security agency squad was behind the abductions.
When questioned on whether his decision to stay within a flawed system was truly in the best interest of Kenyans, Muturi emphasised that he was not motivated by personal vendetta.
“I don’t think there’s any vendetta. I did not have any vendetta against anybody. It was necessary to find out what exactly the problem was,” he explained, adding that staying in government offered him an opportunity to uncover the truth behind the administration’s actions.
Extrajudicial killings
Asked whether he was aware of abductions and extrajudicial killings before his son’s abduction, Muturi clarified that while such issues were widely known, they were not officially acknowledged by the government.
“It must be understood that the docket that deals with criminal matters does not reside with the Office of the Attorney General,” he said.
Muturi was the Attorney General before he was appointed the Public Service CS.
“Anything to do with criminality would be reported even at Cabinet level, or even at the National Security Council level, would be reported through the CS Interior. But it had never been reported other than discussing generally the events surrounding what you were privy to.”
He noted that the government had never formally linked security agencies to the abductions, despite growing public knowledge about such activities.
“It was never stated that it was being done by security agencies,” he said.
Police squad
Muturi pointed out that it wasn’t until recently, when President William Ruto disclosed the involvement of a police squad in extrajudicial killings, that the matter was publicly addressed.
“In fact, the President himself disclosed to the nation and the world that he knew of a police squad that had been previously involved in killings and dumping bodies in River Yala, which he said it is bad power,” Muturi said.
He also raised concerns regarding the handling of legal matters, particularly with respect to the Attorney General.
Muturi criticised the administration’s approach to dismissing him as the Attorney General last year.
“You cannot dismiss the Attorney General under Section 12 of the Office of the Attorney General Act without setting up a tribunal because if you read that section, it puts five grounds, and grounds can only be established through a quasi-judicial process, namely a tribunal.”
Recently, Muturi vowed to keep speaking out against abductions and extrajudicial killings despite his dismissal from President Ruto's Cabinet.
Muturi was fired last week, with the President citing absenteeism and failure to attend Cabinet meetings.
However, Muturi has repeatedly claimed that his removal stemmed from his repeated calls to address these pressing human rights violations.
He asserted that his outspokenness on forced disappearances and unlawful killings led to his dismissal.
"If their goal was to silence me, then they’ve dialled the wrong number," he said.
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