Just a few days after Nation writer Walter Menya was released by a court, the identity of the man who smooth-talked him into a trap set by police has now been debunked.
Kennedy Kiprotich Koros is said to be a young paid intern at the Non-Governmental Organisations Coordination Board.
Koros had reportedly supplied Menya with documents to enable him do a story about civil servants behind a lobby that raised hundreds of millions of shillings for President Uhuru Kenyatta in his reelection bid, but later facilitated the reporter’s arrest.
Koros, in his communication with Koros, lied that he works at Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto’s office and ran an NGO.
But come Monday, June 19, Governor Ruto’s aide denied the existence of such a person in the county office.
An article by the Nation says the twenty-something-year-old Koros works at the NGOs coordinator’s corporate affairs department.
The paper reports that the youngster was appointed to the said position last December by board CEO Fazul Mahamed. A letter reportedly directed him to commence his six-month contract on January 3, 2017.
Unnamed sources at the NGO regulator said on Wednesday, June 21, that, since Sunday, there have been concerted efforts by a senior official of the board to hide the fact that Koros works there.
The same source said the frantic efforts led to the disabling of the board’s website on the night of Tuesday, June 20.
Thanks to Google’s caching capabilities however, it was revealed that Koros’s name had featured a couple of times on the board’s website.
For example, The Co-ordinator, a newsletter from the organisation which was released on March 1, lists Koros as a public relations official and is the author of an introductory article.
That contradicts what government investigator Moses Gituathi told a Nairobi court on Monday that Koros is unemployed.
“The complainant [Mr Koros] is a young man who is unemployed and it was not easy for him to obtain the Sh50,000.” Gituathi told the court. He was convincing the court why police should continue detaining Menya.
“Because he was eager for his information to be published, he [Koros] promised that he would pay the Sh50,000,” he added.
Kennedy Koros is a former student of Egerton University and is said to be a sharp dresser. A former classmate at the institution also described him as a man with the gift of the gab.
