Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho has told off critics linking him to narcotics trade.
“They will not disrupt me [in seeking the presidency]. The facts have come out. Let them deal with them,” Joho yesterday said through director of communication Richard Chacha.
His response followed a February 13 letter by the Director of Criminal Investigations saying Interpol is not investigating the governor over drug trade. A letter bearing Interpol’s logo claimed Joho’s and other leaders linked to Ibrahim Akasha crime family were being investigated.
Baktash Akasha and his brother Ibrahim, Ghulam Hussein and Indian national Vijaygiri Goswami in 2017 were extradited to the United States over links to narcotics. The brothers pleaded guilty. The ‘Interpol’ letter accused Kenyan judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from the Akasha family to frustrate their extradition.
DCI boss George Kinoti told Joho the letter was fake and Interpol confirmed the findings through National Central Bureau. “Since we may not go very far by investigating the origin of the forged letter in the social media, please take civil remedy for those who are spreading the malicious rumours,” Kinoti said in a letter signed on his behalf by John Kariuki.
The ODM deputy leader recently accused Deputy President William Ruto of waging the smear campaign. Joho, should he win ODM primaries,is likely to face off with Ruto who has not responded to his allegations. Nandi governor Joshua Sang’,MPs Oscar Sudi (Kapseret), Kimani Ichung’wah (Kikuyu) and Didimus Baraza (Kimilili)— all allied to the DP — have been sued by Joho for linking him to drugs.
Chacha said Joho started to be labelled a drug dealer in the run up to 2017 general election.“The matter has been there. They first started accusing Mombasa county assembly speaker Aharub Kharti,” he said. Kharti is Joho’s close friend, whom the governor helped him get elected as county speaker. Talks are rife that Joho is grooming him for the governor seat in 2022.
Chacha said Joho enemies “have files of forged documents” they retrieve at their convenience.
“This is a war we are used to. When we entered into politics, we knew it won’t be a smooth ride so we are prepared,” he said. The legislators, allied to Deputy President William Ruto, said they are not scared of Joho. Joho sued Sang and Sudi for linking him to drug trafficking in the Coast region.
“We will not be scared even if he goes to court. We will fight him left,right and centre...,” Sudi said. The MP said he would expose “details on how Joho and his companies had been involved in tax evasion”. The two legislators took a swipe at Joho during a church function in Cheptiret, Uasin Gishu county.