Silas Kinoti, Director General of KURA
Nairobi Police are holding two bloggers over a story that was published in one of the blogs exposing corruption in a stalled road construction project in Banisa, Mandera County.
Jack Okinyi of Business Illustrated and Milton Were of Kenya Today were abducted by police after they were lured to a hotel in Upper Hill, Nairobi. Suffocation Okinyi was the first to be arrested from Upper Hill and driven to Mlolongo after being beaten up and wrapped in a trash paper, in an attempt to suffocate him, before the police tracked Milton Were and abducted him. They were then taken round the city before they were booked at the Capitol Hill police station.
The bloggers say the officers from Special Crimes Unit (SCU) were used in the mission and insist the story was factual and it involves the contractors and KURA. KURA scandal The Deputy Director supply chain management at the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) Mrs Sadia Haji Adam Khalifa is alleged to have given the roads tender to Tosha Holdings Limited.
Tasha Holdings Limited is reportedly owned by Abdisirat Khalif Ali and Banisa Member of National Assembly Hon. Hassan Kulow Maalim.
The multi-million roads project stalled as the firm lacks experience in doing such works.
The blog wrote that the money already paid cannot be accounted for as they ‘squandered 95% of funds allocated and leaving much work not completed as per the agreement by the KURA’
The duo is being held at the Capitol Hill station ahead of their planned grilling. This is the latest such incident where police are used to fix civil matters and prefer charges against bloggers.