Waziri Mayai Wa Maradhi
Senior Member
- Jan 28, 2026
- 166
- 57
When Mwai Kibaki’s administration took power in 2002, one of its biggest scandals was hiding and providing refuge to mass murderer Felicien Kabuga
Kabuga benefited from protection networks while in Kenya
The nation newspaper even went ahead to run a headline on the involvement by the Kenyan security institutions in hiding the Rwandan fugitive
The death of journalist William Munuhe in 2003 remains one of the darkest stains on the early days of President Mwai Kibaki’s administration.
Despite Kibaki’s campaign promises of transparency and the rule of law, the botched FBI sting to capture Félicien Kabuga revealed that high-ranking officials within the new government were providing a protective "security blanket" for the Rwandan fugitive.
Munuhe’s brutal murder after Kibaki took office, was met with a suspicious lack of political will to investigate; the police’s swift attempt to label the death a suicide by charcoal fumes, despite evidence of physical torture, suggested a high-level cover-up designed to protect Kabuga’s local business associates.
This era of impunity effectively signaled that the machinery protecting international fugitives in Kenya remained intact under the Kibaki presidency, leaving Munuhe’s family to spend the next two decades in a futile search for justice that only ended with Kabuga’s death in May 2026.
Kabuga benefited from protection networks while in Kenya
The nation newspaper even went ahead to run a headline on the involvement by the Kenyan security institutions in hiding the Rwandan fugitive
The death of journalist William Munuhe in 2003 remains one of the darkest stains on the early days of President Mwai Kibaki’s administration.
Despite Kibaki’s campaign promises of transparency and the rule of law, the botched FBI sting to capture Félicien Kabuga revealed that high-ranking officials within the new government were providing a protective "security blanket" for the Rwandan fugitive.
Munuhe’s brutal murder after Kibaki took office, was met with a suspicious lack of political will to investigate; the police’s swift attempt to label the death a suicide by charcoal fumes, despite evidence of physical torture, suggested a high-level cover-up designed to protect Kabuga’s local business associates.
This era of impunity effectively signaled that the machinery protecting international fugitives in Kenya remained intact under the Kibaki presidency, leaving Munuhe’s family to spend the next two decades in a futile search for justice that only ended with Kabuga’s death in May 2026.
