After a long weekend that saw Sports CS Rashid Echesa dragged into human trafficking allegations involving eight Pakistani girls, the CS has come out to rubbish the reports as false.
Echesa dismissed the reports as offensive and potentially defamatory, claiming that the allegations were made by scribes who were hired by his rivals to bring him down.
The report, issued by the Director of Administration at the Sports, Culture and Heritage ministry, Charles Wambia stated that the only role Echesa played was to support the Pakistani Nationals to participate in an Indian Cultural Festival by issuing them with a Letter of No Objection.
The Letter of No Objective, the report argues, was part of an agreement between Kenya and Pakistani that aims to promote cultural exchange between the two countries.
“The only role played by the Ministry of Sports and Heritage was to support the Pakistani Nationals application for special passes to participate in an Indian cultural festival via issuance of a ‘Letter of No Objection’ to the Director of Immigration Services as part of the Ministry’s mandate in promoting cultural integration,” the report read.
Echesa pointed fingers at the Immigration Department for failing to conduct due diligence while approving Visa applicants.
“The Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage in the Republic of Kenya is not responsible for issuance of Visas to foreign nationals entering the country for whatsoever reasons neither does it issue them with work permits or engage in assessing the reasons for entry or activities undertaken whilst in the country whether compliant or otherwise,” the statement continued.
Echesa also called out the journalists involved in dragging his name to the mud, citing that they did not observe Journalistic ethics.
He also demanded an apology from the involved parties and threatened to seek legal action and compensation.
The allegations against Echesa risk him being prosecuted in the International Criminal Court (ICC), given that human trafficking is an international crime under Article 7 of the Rome Statute.
