Four senior figures wanted by government over protests
Anti-government protesters block the Nyeri-Nairobi highway in Karatina town, Nyeri County, on July 16, 2024.
A close associate of Uhuru Kenyatta and three others are among those wanted for arrest over allegations of sponsoring protests.
Nation.Africa has seen intelligence reports pointing to the four over alleged links to ongoing demonstrations.
Retired President Uhuru, through his spokesperson Kanze Dena, did not respond to queries on the allegations.
Nation.Africa has also established that three other prominent individuals are also on the radar of the security services after being linked to planning and funding the anti-government protests.
A controversial lawyer has rejected all attempts by the government to link him to an illegal campaign. The lawyer asked Nation.Africa to provide him with the evidence the DCI and NIS claim to have against him.
But the lawyer defended the ongoing protests by youths demanding better governance.
The other person is a relative of an influential family in the Mt Kenya region.
This person, whose identity we have concealed for legal reasons, is accused by the government of being one of the people who are fomenting the anti-Finance Bill protests.
Another prominent figure is said to be in constant contact with him, attracting the attention of the intelligence service.
He is also one of the people under the microscope of the multi-agency team set up by the government to investigate the financiers of the demonstrations.
This investigative team includes officers from the DCI Economic Crimes Unit, the Financial Reporting Centre and the NIS.
Also on the government's radar is a former senior State House figure during the Mwai Kibaki administration.
The former Kibaki aide, who now lives a quiet life away from the public eye, has been linked by the NIS to the funding of protests.
A source familiar with the intelligence briefings told Nation.Africa that this individual has been holding a series of meetings in Nairobi with politicians from the Central region that are believed to be related to the youth protests.
He is also under investigation by the multi-agency team investigating the financiers of the demos. Nation.Africa cannot name this individual after he failed to respond to queries about his alleged involvement.
Earlier, a top security briefing seen by Nation.Africa linked two local NGOs and another international NGO to funding the demonstrations.
President William Ruto has also linked the Ford Foundation to funding the protests. But Ford has denied any wrongdoing, saying details of its grant recipients are public knowledge.
Last week, the government linked 16 NGOs funded by the Ford Foundation to the protests. However, the government has provided no evidence that the money was spent illegally.
But civil society groups have maintained that their role in promoting better governance should not be construed as an anti-government campaign.
Foreign Affairs PS Korir Sing'oei, in a letter to Ford Foundation president Darren Walker, said some of the organisations funded by the organisation had been at the centre of anti-government protests.
Sing'oei said the government was concerned that some of the organisations linked to the protests had spent millions of shillings in the past month in an unexplained manner.
He said the huge sums of money disbursed to non-state recipients were substantial and needed to be used prudently "to serve legitimate purposes or risk abuse to aid nefarious ends".
“While we recognise the importance of maintaining an open civic space and respect for the principles of open government that we both share, the actions of some of your grantees contravene the laws of Kenya, including the prohibition against incitement, hate speech, insurrection and mobilisation using disinformation,” the PS said in his letter.
