Breaking News: Felicien Kabuga Arrested in Nairobi

Kabuga's FBI Most Wanted poster

Hardly a month after this blog exclusively revealed the revocation of the Kenyan diplomatic passport(s) of one of the world’s top 10 most hunted criminals by immigration minister Otieno Kajwang, FELICIEN KABUGA, arguably Africa most wanted fugitive, has been reported arrested in Nairobi and is currently being held at the Gigiri Police Station.

Kabuga was arrrested at undisclosed location in Nairobi yesterday (Friday) afternoon. Kenya Police investigators say that they have a positive ID on the elderly Rwandese fugitive and forensic tests are underway to determine the true identity of the man.

Last month, this blog reported how Kenya’s new immigration minister had cancelled Kabuga’s Kenyan diplomatic passport(s) and accordingly informed Interpol of the same.

During the same month, the editor of Norwegian-based African Press International (API) told a Kenyan newspaper that he had interviewed Kabuga in an Oslo hotel room. Editor Sammy Kipterer Korir told newspaper Sunday Nation that he'd been invited to the hotel room by a friend from Sudan. At that time, Kabuga was reported to be seeking to negotiate amnesty with the Rwandese government.

The Kenyan government have in the past been accused to be a stumbling block to FBI investigations efforts to apprehend Kabuga, as he has strong links to ex MP Gideon Moi, the son of ex President Daniel arap Moi. The fugitive had a whopping US$5million bounty on his head.

Kabuga most recent image

If the reported arrested is confirmed to be correct, then the two month old Grand Coalition Government will have done what eluded successive Kenyan regimes for nearly a decade and a half.

Felicien Kabuga was an influential businessman who used his wealth to outfit the Interahamwe, a violent Hutu militia, who massacred thousands of innocent Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Few militia gangs in history have banded together to act with such swift brutality. In only 100 days Interahamwe contributed significantly to the death toll of over 800,000 Rwandans. Kabuga purchased vast amounts of machetes, hoes and other agricultural tools for the Interahamwe, fully aware that they would be used to hack men, women and children to death. For these and other cold-blooded calculations, he has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva convention.

Update: 21.30 hrs Kenya Time

We are under estimating the power Kabuga and his Kenyan friends wield.

News reaching this blogger indicate that the person arrested by police is now being touted as "a case of mistaken identity and is afterall NOT Felicien Kabuga".

Kenyan police intelligence is known to be thorough and capable of cracking just about any crime without external help. There is NO WAY police could have arrested a stranger and run DNA and fingerprint tests on the suspect if they were not sure they had their man.

IT IS OBVIOUS SOMEONE HAS PRESSED THE RIGHT BUTTON(S) AND ONCE AGAIN KABUGA IS ABOUT TO BE SET FREE.

Updates to follow

What Does Chris Kirubi’s Appearance In Court Mean?

Analysts are still puzzled and scrambling around for answers after one of the most political savvy businessmen in Kenya appeared in court yesterday morning over charges related to his ill-fated stint at the helm of the once immensely profitable Uchumi chain of supermarkets.

Those who understand this territory well are aware of the fact that Kenyan politics is in the strong vice-like grip of a certain clique of politically-correct businessmen. These gentlemen are determined that their gravy train does not end abruptly after President Mwai Kibaki leaves office in 2012. Many of these businessmen have broken all sorts of laws but if you expect to see them arraigned before court any time soon, you will grow old waiting.

It is also a well known fact that Mr Chris Kirubi despite his dark past related to the way he accumulated his vast fortune, has managed to play his politics intricately over the years. Probably the biggest test of this was during the tenure of former President Moi. Moi who had a rabid phobia for Kikuyus and went to great lengths to destroy their businesses even where it meant bringing down entire industries, oblivious of the impact that his actions had on the country’s economy. The coffee and tea industries in the country bore the brunt of the anti-kikuyu Moi purge.

Many prominent entrepreneurs from the community ended up in ruin. Not Mr Kirubi, he not only emerged unscathed but his business empire grew immensely and at the same time he managed to cultivate an enviable image as a principled businessman who did not touch corruption. This was not only amazing but very laughable to those who knew Mr Kirubi’s past and especially his antics at Kenatco during the coffee boom of the late 70s which changed his life. (See this article Chris wrote about Mr Kirubi’s dark past)

Some are beginning to point to the troubles, of a police kind, that former Juja MP William Kabogo ran into last year. That storm passed and analysts are saying that this one too shall pass and it is probably just some characters exerting their power to show everybody who is boss. Let time be the judge.