Police have doubled down on claims that Juja Member of Parliament George Koimburi staged his own kidnapping, detailing a step-by-step narration of how it was carried out.
While addressing the media on Wednesday, May 28, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, flanked by other senior police bosses, including the director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Amin Mohammed, revealed that police have arrested three people, including the Juja CDF chairperson, who collaborated in carrying out the kidnapping.
According to Kanja, the statements issued by the suspects after the arrests have unravelled what happened to the MP, who they are now convinced abducted himself.
"It is quite, quite inconceivable for an honourable Member of Parliament to go to that extent of state management, his own abduction, creating a lot of tension and fear in the country. Fortunately, we were able to exploit the investigations and expose to the public that the Member of Parliament was indeed not abducted," said Amin.
"We were able to account for all his movements from the time he attended the church up to where he slept at night. We have even identified the hotel and the room number where he slept," he added.
The Juja CDF chair told detectives that on May 25, he attended a church service with the MP, after which Koimburi is said to have been kidnapped by two men in a silver Subaru Forester. The CDF chair claimed that he only learnt of the MP's recovery at a coffee farm following a call from the MP's family.
However, another suspect, who is an associate of the MP, stated that the CDF Chair had called him to request the use of his Subaru Forester, which has since been identified as the vehicle used in the alleged abduction.
He was reportedly informed that the vehicle would be used to transport additional security personnel for the lawmaker during the church event.
Later that day, he was directed by the CDF chair to go to his home, where he met the third suspect alongside three others who drove the chair's vehicle, a Honda CR-V, to the Full Gospel Church to familiarise themselves with the route.
He returned on the route later after being directed by the CDF Chair to drive his car with the two men who would later force the MP into his vehicle on arriving at the church.
After the 'kidnapping', they drove to the Jacaranda Coffee Research via Kabogo Road, where the MP reportedly instructed them to stop near a waiting Honda CR-V. After the MP exited the vehicle, the MP's associate told detectives that the two men warned him not to say anything to the police on the matter.
The third suspect in custody admitted to driving the MP to a hotel where he had refreshments and spent the night with the two alleged abductors on May 25.
"He admitted that on May 26, while using the CDF chair's vehicle, the Honda CR-V, he picked up the MP from the hotel and took him to the scene where he claimed he had been dumped. Before the MP exited the vehicle, he helped him tear his clothes to fake evidence of torture by the alleged abductors," Kanja relayed.
Alongside the three arrests, Kanja confirmed that the two vehicles, a Honda CR-V and a Subaru Forester, have been seized to aid in the investigations. He further sought help from the public, requesting their help in the investigations.
After Koimburi was discovered at the coffee farm on May 26, he was rushed to a nearby hospital in Ruiru for first aid and thereafter transferred to the Karen Hospital for specialised treatment, where former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua visited him that afternoon.
Addressing the media after the visit, Gachagua claimed that the MP had suffered soft tissue injuries from being tortured and that his vocal cords had been damaged, impeding his speech.
