Matiang’i didn’t flee the country - Lawyer Danstan Omari

Lawyers for former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i have dismissed insinuations he fled the country in the face of the crackdown mounted against him by the President William Ruto administration.

Danstan Omari, in a statement, said the former CS, owing to his immediate former role in the security sector, “informally notified” senior security sector and diplomatic officials of his travel.”

He disclosed that Matiang’i went to the United Kingdom and would be there for two weeks.

“It is therefore unfair to cast aspersions on his movement,” Omari said.

He added that the former minister travelled by a passenger plane, for a regular private visit.

“Those familiar with his travel schedules over time will confirm that he travels regularly to that part of the world via KLM,” Omari said.

He stated that Matiang’i did not sneak out of the country as asserted by some quarters saying the trip “Was very open, through open public means.”

“There is nothing sinister about his travel. He is there to attend to an urgent private family matter and shall return to resume his ordinary routine as a private citizen,” the lawyer said.

Omari said Matiang'i was not aware of any investigations on him but reckons that constitutional offices are at liberty to discharge their mandate.

He reckons that he too has the right to due process in the country.

Omari termed the aspersions to the effect the ex-CS fled as “unfair and unfortunate.”

On the EACC and DCI probes, he said, the agencies need to conduct themselves “with due regard to the rights of every citizen.”

He held that “the aspersions created in the reports are stage-managed wars and driven by inexplicable vendetta and malice.”