Ex-KPLC Boss Chumo Accused Of Child Trafficking As Father Claims Two Sons Were Smuggled To Australia

A Nairobi man has made explosive allegations of child trafficking against Dr Ben Chumo, the former managing director of Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), accusing the one-time utility boss of orchestrating the abduction and illegal removal of his two minor sons from Kenya and flying them out to Australia without his knowledge or legal authorisation.

Kevin Oduor, who describes himself as the primary caregiver of six-year-old Kwame Jamari Oduor and five-year-old Tafari Zane Oduor for over four years, says the children were taken from the country on the night of December 12, 2025, aboard an Emirates Airline flight departing at 10pm, allegedly by Dr Chumo and his son Victor Chumo. The boys have not been returned. Their father says he has neither seen nor spoken to them in 67 days.

“My two minor sons were unlawfully removed from Kenya last night without my consent. I am their father and primary caregiver. This is child trafficking,” Oduor wrote in a social media post on December 13, 2025, a day after the alleged removal.

The children’s mother, who is reported to be Dr Chumo’s daughter, separated from Oduor and has since been residing in Australia. Sources close to the matter indicate the marriage broke down approximately four years ago, around the same time Oduor says he assumed sole care of the two boys. A custody dispute was reportedly filed in a Kenyan court but was never concluded.

Oduor alleges that the operation was carried out under false pretences. He says the children were told they were going to visit their grandfather, only for Dr Chumo to switch off his phone immediately afterwards and move the boys beyond reach. He further claims that Australian visas were issued to the minors without his consent as the father, a matter he says raises grave questions about due process and child protection failures within Kenya’s immigration system and the relevant foreign high commission.

“There is a custody matter that was in court but never concluded,” Oduor said. “Dr Chumo claims to have a court order, yet I have never been served with any order allowing travel. How they acquired visas without my consent, the high commission has to tell me.”

In a chilling follow-up post published this week, Oduor issued a direct public challenge to the 65-year-old former parastatal boss, demanding the production of any purported court order and questioning why, if such an order existed, it was never formally served upon him.

“If you had a lawful court order, why was it not formally served upon me? Why was deception used instead of due process? Why has this alleged court order never been produced for verification?” Oduor demanded, addressing Chumo by name.

The post has since gone viral across Kenyan social media platforms, reigniting public interest in the powerful former technocrat who spent over three decades at Kenya Power, including four years at its helm between 2013 and 2017.

Oduor also disclosed a deeply alarming encounter on the evening of Friday, February 19, 2026, when five officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), drawn from Gigiri Police Station and arriving in a Subaru Outback registration KCP 763N, appeared at his residence after 5pm. He says the officers, four male and one female, declined to properly identify themselves and sought to arrest him over what appear to be defamation allegations, reportedly connected to his public campaign to locate his children.

“Since when does defamation justify five DCI officers and a late-evening home visit? Why was I not formally summoned during official working hours? Why the refusal to identify yourselves?” Oduor wrote, laying the responsibility for any harm to his person squarely at Chumo’s door.

He ended his post with a stark declaration: “Dr Ben Chumo, produce my children, whether dead or alive. I will not be intimidated.”

Kenya Insights could not immediately reach Dr Ben Chumo, Victor Chumo or the children’s mother for comment. The DCI did not respond to queries by the time of going to press.

If the allegations are proven, the case would constitute a serious violation of Kenyan law. Under the Children Act 2022, the removal of a child from Kenya without the consent of all persons with parental responsibility, or without a court order, is a criminal offence. The Counter-Trafficking in Persons Act similarly criminalises the recruitment, transportation or transfer of a child across borders, regardless of whether the perpetrator claims parental or family ties.

Legal experts contacted by Kenya Insights warned that the case raises disturbing questions about how the children secured travel documents. Under Kenyan regulations, minors require the consent of both parents for passport issuance and international travel, unless a court order specifying otherwise has been obtained and verified. The alleged issuance of Australian visas without the knowledge of one parent, if confirmed, would compound the severity of the breach.

Dr Chumo is no stranger to controversy. The veteran energy sector technocrat spent 32 years at Kenya Power before retiring as Managing Director in January 2017 upon attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60.

His tenure was later overshadowed by a high-profile graft prosecution in which he and 14 others faced charges of conspiring to fraudulently acquire public property and abuse of office, relating to the procurement of substandard transformers worth Sh408 million from a company called Muwa Trading Company.

The case, which has dragged on for years, saw crucial documents go missing at one point, with Chumo summoned by the DCI for questioning over the disappearance.

Despite the pending charges, President Uhuru Kenyatta in June 2018 nominated Chumo as Chairman of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, a nomination that triggered fierce opposition from lawmakers and was eventually set aside.

More recently, a consultancy firm he co-founded, Eagle HR Consultants Limited, was awarded a Sh20 million Kenya Power contract in 2024, raising fresh eyebrows over his enduring influence in state circles.

It is this institutional clout that Oduor appears to be drawing attention to, suggesting that powerful connections may be shielding those responsible for the removal of his children from accountability.

Child rights organisations have begun taking note. The matter touches on gaps that advocates say have long existed in Kenya’s enforcement of international family law, including the country’s obligations under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which Kenya ratified. Australia is also a signatory to the convention, which in principle requires the prompt return of children who have been wrongfully removed from their country of habitual residence.

For now, Oduor says he is documenting every development, has engaged legal counsel and is alerting relevant authorities. He has appealed to the DCI, the Children’s Department and the public to assist in securing the return of Kwame and Tafari.

“Silencing a father who is demanding answers does not resolve the underlying issue. It only deepens it,” he wrote.

The Star will continue to follow developments in this case.