Kenyan Politician Detained in Burundi over Drug Trafficking Allegations

Kenyan politician and businessman Joseph Mboya Nyamuthe is being detained in Burundi over drug trafficking allegations.

Reports indicate that Mboya, who is the son of former Moi-era Permanent Secretary Hezekiah Oyugi, is being held in solitary confinement.

The businessman moved to Burundi in 2019 and set up a pharmaceutical company that was officially launched by then President Pierre Nkurunziza.

Mboya was arrested and detained in April this year after his company was accused of importing and exporting illegal drugs.

This followed the arrest of a Turkish national in Bujumbura in March ferrying narcotics. Mboya was apprehended alongside some top government officials in connection with narcotics trade in the landlocked nation.

His company is alleged to have been used to ship drugs to Burundi through Somalia in the guise of ferrying medicine to Burundi forces on peacekeeping missions.

Sources told Nation that President Kenyatta steered clear of Mboya’s detention during Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye’s official visit to Kenya last month, saying he should pay for his wrongdoings.

Contacted for comment on Mboya’s arrest and detention, government spokesperson Col Cyrus Oguna said he is not aware of the matter.

“I have no knowledge of his whereabouts,” Oguna said.

Mboya had expressed interest in running for the Rwangwe parliamentary seat in the next year’s elections.