Revelations on how special unit raided Uhuru son's home

 

Six individuals, including former President Uhuru Kenyatta's son, brother, and a host of other close associates, now have until tomorrow (Monday) to surrender their personal weapons to the police.

The police have asked the six to surrender 28 weapons that are registered in their names to the Firearm Licensing Board in Nairobi.

In addition to the ex-president's immediate family members, other individuals who work as aides to the Kenyattas have also been directed to hand over their personal weapons.

If these individuals fail to surrender the firearms and their licences, the police have warned of unspecified action against the holders of the weapons.

The Sunday Standard has now learned that the individuals whom the former president claimed stormed his son's home in Karen on Friday evening are DCI officers from the elite unit OSU (Operation Support Unit).

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OSU is the new elite DCI unit that replaced the Special Crimes Prevention Unit, which was disbanded by President William Ruto. Sources familiar with the matter yesterday informed the Sunday Standard that close to 10 officers from the unit arrived at the home in Karen shortly after 2.30pm in two Subaru station wagons.

Uhuru said he responded to a distress call from his son, who told him officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations had raided his premises in search of weapons. 

The vehicles were fitted with foreign registration plates, as is the tradition of undercover officers to conceal their identity. At the gates, the officers were received by a man named Peter Mburu, an aide of the Kenyattas.

According to the sources, the officers explained that they had instructions from their bosses to ask Uhuru's kin to surrender the multiple firearms registered in his name. In total, the police were seeking 28 weapons from Uhuru's son and other individuals who are close to the family.

It was at this point that a standoff ensued after the aides declined to allow the OSU officers to enter the home. The agents wanted to conduct a search. After a failed attempt by the police to enter the house, the commander of the unit demanded that the registered owners of the weapons ferry their guns to Karen police station and surrender them to the station commander (OCS).

The Kenyattas again declined, which led to a further standoff between the family and the police. The standoff persisted until about 7pm when the former president finally made it to his son's home in a convoy of three vehicles that included the former president's security detail.

Following consultations with their bosses, the agents of the OSU decided to leave. “We did not want a confrontation with the former president or his security, so we decided to leave. Our message had been delivered,” said a senior officer familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki has defended Friday's police raid, saying the action was undertaken within the confines of the law.

Without mentioning Uhuru’s elder son Jomo by name, the CS said the government had recovered 23 arms during the raid in three homes in Nairobi. Among the homes raided by police on Friday was Uhuru’s son Jomo's.

"Today afternoon, an operation has been ongoing targeting three homesteads within the Karen area where a total of 23 firearms, some of which are suspected to have been used in illegal activities, are kept," read the statement by CS.

However, speaking to the media at his son’s home in Karen, Uhuru said the homestead was raided due to his relationship with opposition leader Raila Odinga. Uhuru told President William Ruto that if the government has an issue with him, they should stop attacking his family and instead face him as an individual.

“What has my mother got to do with it? What do my children have to do with it? The fact that I have been silent does not mean I am scared. I am ready to protect my family with all I have, and if it’s me you want, come for me,” said Uhuru on Friday evening.

In his response, Kindiki said the raid was purely for security reasons as part of a nationwide operation that aims to ensure the country is safe and stable. Kindiki said the firearms recovered during the Friday afternoon raid followed an operation launched after establishing that weapons used during demonstrations were supplied by civilian gun holders.

Kindiki said that on July 19, 2023, a suspect was arrested while preparing to distribute a large number of crude weapons to facilitate criminals.

"The operation will proceed to cover civilian firearm holders in Nairobi and other parts of the country who may be using the weapons in their possession to jeopardize our national security," he said, adding, "The operation is purely of a security nature, and neither its politicization nor sensationalization will deter law enforcement agencies from ensuring that the country remains safe and stable."    BY THE STANDARD MEDIA