The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Thursday, March 5 shared CCTV footage from Deputy President William Ruto's office where embattled former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa held a meeting with two foreigners on Thursday, February 13.
Officers from the DCI took journalists through the footage at the agency's headquarters, shedding light on the events that transpired before Echesa's dramatic arrest over an alleged fraudulent Ksh39 billion arms tender he had promised to help the foreigners secure.
John Kipyegon Kenei, a police officer attached to Ruto's office who was found dead in his home in Nairobi's Imara Daima estate on February 20, featured prominently in the footage. DCI chief George Kinoti maintained that Kenei was murdered in cold blood, with his killers allegedly trying to pass it off as a suicide.
Several puzzling things emerged from the footage which established a clear timeline of Kenei's whereabouts as well as those of Echesa and his co-accused on February 13.
First, two individuals charged alongside Echesa, Clifford Okoth Onyango and Kennedy Oyoo Mboya, were spotted in a parking lot behind the Harambee House Annex office before Echesa's arrival.
At one point, the two men can be seen spotting the CCTV camera before one of them in a black suit and sunglasses walks towards it and seemingly covers it with his hand, at which point the video is cut off.
Kenei is first seen in the footage at the reception of the Harambee House Annex office ushering another of Echesa's co-accused, Daniel Otieno Omondi alias General Juma, into the VIP lifts at the building.
Another puzzling moment was observed moments after they got off the VIP lift on the second floor with Kenei, who was engaged in a conversation on his phone, handing over the device to General Juma who immediately holds it to his ear.
At around 9.35 pm, Echesa drove into Harambee House Annex in a black Range Rover, accompanied by two foreigners.
As soon as they walked to the reception, a police officer in uniform is seen standing straight and saluting Echesa, another moment that sparked curiosity as Echesa holds no public office.
Echesa then confidently walked past the receptionist as he led his guests into the VIP lift as they headed to a second-floor boardroom. Their use of VIP lifts raised eyebrows as regular citizens typically use the normal lifts with the VIP lifts exclusively used by high-ranking government officials and their guests.
At around 10.00 am, Echesa is seen getting back in the lift with his guests. They disembarked on the ground floor and walked out of the lift into the VIP reception.
Another interesting moment was captured at 10.02 am when Echesa is seen clearly handing something to the receptionist at her desk while his guests walk out of the building.
After handing the unidentified item to the receptionist, Echesa followed his guests out of the building and they soon left in the Range Rover.
Daniel Otieno Omondi alias General Juma, however, was still holed up in a room on the second floor with Kenei, the deceased police officer.
Kenei is seen getting into the lift alone at around 10.04 and getting off at the VIP reception. He walked into another room and came back moments later holding newspapers in his hand which he carried with him back to the second floor.
Barely five minutes later, Kenei accompanied General Juma to the VIP lifts on the second floor and they headed for the VIP reception.
In yet another puzzling moment, Kenei ushered General Juma through a backdoor behind the receptionist as Juma prepared to leave.
Juma left in the passenger seat of a blue Subaru through a parking lot behind the building, with an unidentified man in the driver's seat.
Echesa and his three co-accused were arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts on February 17 and charged with 12 counts including conspiracy to commit a felony, making a document without authority, obtaining money by false pretenses and impersonating a public service officer.
Watch the footage below:
