Revealed; It is Kenya that made the Current World’s Most Wanted Man, WikiLeaks Founder Assange

It is Kenya that made the dream of the current world’s most wanted man Australian-born WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange come true.

It is Kenya that gave the WikiLeaks founder, who was apprehended in London and faces possible extradition to the US or Sweden, the scoop that transformed him from an unknown hacker to one of the most talked about people on the planet.

Assange is facing a number of accusations for leaking confidential information and sexual harrassment. A federal investigation is underway to establish whether the leaked emails from the Democratic Party published by WikiLeaks are linked to Russia’s attempt to meddle in the 2016 presidential poll won by Donald Trump.

Before he became a global sensation, it was Mr Assange’s 2007 travel to Kenya and the courage he saw in local activists that would make him fall in love with Nairobi, motivating him to start leaking the secrets of governments.

These revelations are contained in the book WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy, written by British journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding in 2011.

In the book, Mr Assange reveals his intention of starting WikiLeaks on Kenyan soil in 2007. He had come for the one-week World Social Forum, which began on January 24. It was held at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani. The event is a parody of the World Economic Forum, a preserve of wealthy nations.

He set up a tent at Kasarani and spent four days handing out flyers and talking about his intention to set up WikiLeaks.

Mr Assange was so happy with the response he got that he spent the next two years in Nairobi making connections with activists like Mwalimu Mati. He would later tell an Australian publication that Kenya had an extraordinary opportunity for reforms.

“While in Kenya, Assange met courageous individuals, banned opposition groups, corruption investigators, trade unions, a fearless press and clergy. These brave people seemed the real deal to him. He contrasted them with fellow westerners who just loved cameras and throwing parties with foundation money,” the book says.

While in Kenya, Assange revealed reports on massive corruption during President Daniel arap Moi’s era , the 2004 the Anglo Leasing scandal. The contents of the missing billions were published in a dossier by London’s Guardian newspaper under the title: “The missing Kenya billions”. Mr Moi and his associates were said to have siphoned off more than Sh130 billion and used it to buy properties across the world.

The money was traced to Britain, Switzerland, South Africa, the US, Namibia, Malawi and the tax havens of Cayman and Brunei.

Among the assets amassed by influential Kanu people were multimillion-pound properties in London, New York, Johannesburg and other cities. There was a 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pounds in Belgium.

The report detailed how wealthy individuals secured their properties across the world immediately after Mr Moi left power due to the fear that the new regime was going to recover what had been stolen.

While Kenyan media published piecemeal stories from the report, dozens of international publications picked it full steam, creating a global uproar.

WikiLeaks had arrived and the mercurial Mr Assange had turned into a global sensation. He would later claim that “voting shifted 10 percent in the 2007 elections”, courtesy of the leaking of the Kroll report.

The election was disputed and led to the worst political violence in Kenya’s history. President Kibaki and Mr Raila Odinga would be made to share power.But Mr Assange and WikiLeaks were not yet done with Kenya.

The following year, the website landed its second biggest scoop. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights had come up with a report on extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

The Cry of Blood, which gave an account of the crimes and asked the UN to intervene, was submitted to the government but never acted on or made public.

Through the KNCHR Assange again gave an explicit report that detailed the names of the people executed and disappeared by the police.These two leaks about Kenya would earn Mr Assange the New Media Award by Amnesty International. He flew from Nairobi to the event in London on June 3, 2009, the day he was to receive the award. But he encountered a problem with immigration officials at JKIA.

Mr Assange had found his big break and the massive leaks of diplomatic cables that followed, exposing secrets from American embassies across the world, only boosted his image.

That was until 2010, when Swedish prosecutors issued a warrant of arrest against him for two alleged sexual offences. The United States also wanted him extradited over the leaking of confidential information.

Mr Assange fled to the Ecuadorean embassy in London in June 2012 where he was granted asylum. The status was withdrawn this week, leading to his arrest and ongoing legal battle