Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen now says former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi risks being arrested for allegedly breaching government confidentiality.
Speaking during an interview with members of the press in Mombasa County on Tuesday, April 8, Murkomen accused Muturi of exposing the government by allegedly withholding crucial state documents.
While hitting out at his former colleague, Murkomen called on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to probe Muturi's actions and take the necessary action.
“He says he has kept government documents and that he has kept them in an email. In another country, he could have been arrested because the principle of how to handle documents is not that way,” Murkomen stated.
During the roundtable interview, Murkomen also dismissed the former Attorney General’s allegations that President William Ruto coerced him to engage in corrupt deals against his will.
Murkomen went ahead to challenge Muturi to present evidence to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) that he was indeed coerced by the Head of State to engage in corrupt dealings.
“I do not think there is anything that has reached the threshold to be called corruption. But why does he wait to be summoned? The other day, he walked to the DCI; he can as well walk to the DCI with evidence,” the Interior CS said.
Murkomen’s call for Muturi’s arrest followed hours after he clarified the withdrawal of the latter’s security, stating that Muturi's security could have been escalated down since he was no longer a cabinet member.
However, the Interior Minister stated that he would seek clarification from the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, regarding the issue, as such matters fell under the latter's jurisdiction.
“It could be a scale-down since he's no longer a CS. I'll seek clarification from the IG. We don't play politics in security matters. It's a matter for IG level unless he's escalating it to reach my level,” Murkomen said.
Muturi had on Tuesday morning accused the government of endangering his life by allegedly withdrawing his security in what he termed as an attempt by the current regime to intimidate him due to his strong political stance.
According to him, he learned of the withdrawal of the personnel on Monday evening, but when he contacted the relevant authorities about the issue, he was informed that the officers had been withdrawn because of his criticism of the government.
“The reaction from the government has been the immediate withdrawal of my security, which happened last evening. My security personnel were instructed not to report to duty because I am fighting the government,” Muturi claimed.
"I said it is okay because there are very many Kenyans without government security, and therefore, it is not something that should worry somebody,” he added.
