Did Najib Balala help the notorious Akasha brothers evade justice? Well, he has been mentioned in some quarters.
On Thursday, The Nation ran a story about how US authorities are investigating a cabinet secretary and a controversial governor over allegations of taking bribes from the notorious brothers.
According to the story, the two senior govt officials are among the 10 prominent Kenyans that the US department of Justice is investigating, in a case that could see them extradited to the US to face justice.
Even though The Nation didn’t reveal the identities of the suspects, blogger Robert Alai has since said that the mysterious Minister is the Tourism CS Najib Balala.
According to Alai, Balala is not even allowed to visit the US because of the investigations. It is for this reasons that he didn’t travel to the US during KQ’s historic first direct flight to JF Kennedy Airport. Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma was on the flight and it was expected that Balala would travel as the Tourism Minister.
Najib Balala is said to be the CS on the Akasha List. He is not allowed to visit the US. That’s why he couldn’t go there during the inaugural #KQDirectFlight to NYC despite Foreign Affairs CS and others being there.
— Robert ALAI, HSC (@RobertAlai) November 22, 2018
If Alai is right, then President Kenyatta will be under a lot of pressure to fire Balala.
Last month two Akasha brothers accused by US prosecutors of playing key roles in the family’s drugs business pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in New York. Baktash Akasha and his brother Ibrahim pleaded guilty to seven criminal charges, including distribution of heroin and conspiracy to import drugs into the US.
During the Akashas’ bloody reign as one of Kenya’s most notorious crime families, the coastal region was awash with drugs that neither the police nor the judicial system appeared able to tame.Nobody dared touch the Akashas, and for years they were the law.
Do you believe Najib Balala protected the Akasha brothers?