Abducted?: Former Minister Tuju goes missing as family seeks urgent answers on whereabouts

Former Cabinet Minister Raphael Tuju has been missing since Saturday evening when he was last seen leaving his Karen home for a radio interview.

Advocate Paul Nyamodi, who addressed journalists on behalf of Tuju’s family, said that he had an engagement at Ramogi FM at 7 PM on Saturday, but he did not show up as expected.

Nyamodi, who spoke at Tuju’s Entim Sidai Hotel in Karen, said that his son Mano was called by the Police at Karen Police Station on Sunday morning to come and identify whether a Maroon Toyota Prado vehicle belonged to his father.

“Tuju’s son Mano positively identified the maroon Toyota Prado as belonging to his father, and currently we can state that the whereabouts of the former Cabinet Minister and his driver Steve Mwanga cannot be established,” said Nyamodi.

The advocate said that an official report of Tuju and Mwanga missing has been made at Karen Police Station, where the vehicle, which was found abandoned at Miotoni Lane, has already been towed to await investigation to establish where Tuju is.

Advocate PLO Lumumba said that it was in the public domain that Tuju’s property has been under siege in the last few days, with armed police officers keeping guard after goons evicted him, raising questions since he had recently raised complaints about his safety.

Lumumba said that they are demanding that the relevant authorities work around the clock to ensure that Tuju is back home with his family, which is currently faced with a lot of anxiety and that they would like to know who is behind his disappearance and the reasons.

“At the moment, we would not like to engage in much speculation but would like to ask the relevant agencies to ensure that Tuju is back safely since we all know the tribulations that he has been facing lately, and someone might want to harm him,” said Lumumba.

Former Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo said he was deeply concerned by reports that Tuju was missing, calling upon the Inspector General of the National Police Service to urgently direct all relevant police formations and investigative agencies to commence speedy, thorough, and coordinated investigations into the matter and urgently update the Kenyan public on the same.

In a statement released in the evening, Owalo said under the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and the National Police Service Act, the State has a duty to protect life, liberty, and security of every person, and to investigate any incident that may threaten those rights, calling for urgent action to locate Tuju.

“I urge the National Police Service to act with the utmost urgency, keep the family appropriately informed, and take all lawful steps necessary to establish Tuju’s whereabouts and ensure his safety, also appeal to any member of the public who may have credible information that could assist in revealing the mysterious disappearance to lay bare this information in the public domain,” said Owalo.

Tuju had last week vowed to fight for his 27-acre property worth billions of shillings, which hosts Dari Business Park in Kare,n saying that the amount of money owed to the East African Development Bank did not warrant it being taken away forcefully from him.

The former Cabinet Secretary argued that he had always wanted to clear the balance of the loans that he owes the Bank, but it seems that its top management was keen on taking away his property, which he had put as collateral for the loan.

On Monday, he said that together with his advocates, they had arrived in Court expecting the matter concerning the dispute over his EADB loan to be heard, only to discover that it had been removed from the court schedule without explanation.

The case had been filed to challenge a decision by the High Court that cleared the way for auctioneers to evict him from the property over a financial dispute with the East African Development Bank.

Speaking at the contested property, where police officers have been stationed for days, Tuju expressed frustration over what he said was an attempt to deny him a fair hearing and a clear determination to take away his property by all means.

“When we went to court, my matter had been removed from the case list and they could not even tell me when the matter would next be coming. So of course, that is to pre-empt any hearing of my matter and any positions on my matter so that the harassment which is happening here can continue,” said Tuju.

He said that the police had continued to block the main gate of the property, which houses several businesses, including the Tamarind Restaurant, and that it had remained largely inaccessible since the weekend, disrupting operations for tenants.

At the centre of the dispute is a debt claim involving the East African Development Bank (EADB), which Tuju said originated from a loan he took years ago but which he insists he has made multiple attempts to settle.

According to Tuju, the initial loan amount was about 9 million dollars and he had even proposed a settlement of 12 million dollars, including interest and that he had made four attempts to pay the loan and that he was worried it kept on increasing.

“I have had four attempts to pay the loan. It was a 9 million loan. We even settled, let me pay them 12 million. They did not disburse all the loan, but I still said let me pay 12 million, including interest,” said Tuju.

The former Cabinet Minister claimed that despite the agreement being formally drafted by lawyers representing the lender, the amount demanded kept increasing over time, which raised a lot of questions about whether the bank was genuine in its transaction.

“I also got investors from the Emirates who brought in 10 million dollars, but before we could settle, the amount moved to 14 million, then 16 million, then 18 million US dollars, and eventually 32 million US dollars was the last figure they came up with,” he said.

Tuju argued that the shifting figures made it impossible for him to settle the debt, alleging that the lenders were more interested in acquiring the land used as security rather than recovering the loan itself, arguing that the property had appreciated significantly in value.

“They don’t want the money, they want the land, because it is more valuable than the money which I owe them; that is why they keep on shifting goal posts on a matter that appears to be straightforward if they kept their side of the bargain,” Tuju said.

However, EADB has defended its actions in the dispute with Dari Limited, stating that the borrower defaulted on a loan facility obtained more than a decade ago and that the bank had followed the law in enforcing recovery.

In a statement issued on Monday last week  EADB said that much of the commentary circulating in public discourse was grossly misleading and that Dari Limited secured a loan facility amounting to 9.19 million US dollars in April 2015 under a loan agreement negotiated by both parties and their legal representatives.

As security for the loan, the company’s shareholders and directors pledged several properties in Nairobi, which were formally charged in favour of the bank. The loan was subsequently drawn down on July 29, 2015, after the charges were duly registered.

However, the bank said the facility soon fell into default.

“As of the second quarter of 2016, the loan was in default, prompting the EADB to issue various demand notices to Dari Limited in November 2017, which were ignored and not honoured; that is why we opted to pursue legal action to recover money owed to us,” said the bank. 

The bank said it was eventually forced to pursue legal action in the High Court of Justice in England and Wales, the jurisdiction provided for under the loan agreement, so as to ensure that it recovered the money owed by Tuju.