Religious group defends chief spy over abduction accusations

A group of religious leaders have defended National Intelligence Service boss Noordin Haji over accusations of being the mastermind behind the abductions in Kenya.

The Coast Restoration Council of Eminent Elders led by Sheikh Abu Hamza on Thursday said some of the leaders pointing an accusing finger at Haji cannot be trusted because they have double standards.

Sheikh Hamza said although they do not support the abduction or forcible disappearance of youth because they believe in the rule of law, politics should not be mixed with security matters.

“When the abductions were being conducted at the Coast region with the abducted being accused of being terrorists or having links to terrorists, why were they quiet?”

“Today, because the same things we were complaining about have reached their doorsteps, they are now crying wolf,” Sheikh Hamza said.

The Coast region has been one of the areas where forcible disappearance was rampant at one point, with families of the abducted crying for justice to no avail.

Muslims for Human Rights, a rights lobby group that has been at the forefront fighting forcible disappearances, ended up being falsely accused of being terrorist sympathisers.

On Thursday, Sheikh Hamza questioned the motives of those pointing an accusing finger at Haji saying they only cry when the needle pricks them.

“Why should we have double standards on the same issue?” the Muslim cleric said.

He warned that the continued accusations of the NIS boss could push the country into anarchy.

The COEE leader said the name calling and finger pointing only serves to derail service delivery by the government.

“We condemn those who want to turn this into an ethnic issue,” he said.

He noted that when one of their own was in power, they did not raise their voices against forcible disappearances.

But now that Haji, who is a Somali, is at the helm of the intelligence service, they want to raise issues.

“We want leaders to be consistent in their words and actions and not only come out when they are affected,” the cleric said.

Public Service CS Justin Muturi last week accused Haji of being behind the abduction of his son Leslie Muturi and others at the height of the Gen Z protests last June.

In a statement, Muturi narrated how he received a phone call about the abduction of his son on June 22 last year, and how he made frantic calls to try and know his whereabouts and possibly have him released.

In the statement, he said it was only after he called President William Ruto, that his son released after learning that it is the NIS boss that had him abducted.

On Thursday, the COEE said Haji is a professional who is at the helm of the country’s security intelligence gathering agency by merit.

“What he does is trying to ensure the safety and security of the country. Let us not introduce tribal politics into matters of the state security,” Sheikh Hamza warned.