Tuju Was At His Karen Home All Along, DCI Declares — He Faked His Own Abduction, Now Arrested

Former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju was at his Karen home the entire time the country agonised over his disappearance, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations declared on Monday, announcing that what was reported as a shocking abduction was in fact a carefully engineered deception that has now landed the veteran politician in police custody.

DCI Director Amin Mohammed, speaking at a press conference that landed like a thunderclap in a political week already crackling with tension, said investigators had established beyond all reasonable doubt that Tuju never left his residence on Miotoni Lane during the period his family and allies were raising the alarm with police. His phone was switched off at exactly 6:18 p.m. on March 21, 2026, the DCI said, and at that precise moment Tuju was still inside the compound of his Karen home.

“The DCI conclusively, and I am saying this without an iota of doubt, established that Tuju was physically present within his residence throughout the period in question,” Amin said. “Even at the precise time his mobile phone was switched off at 18:18 hours on 21st March 2026, he was at his Karen residence.”

The disclosures cast an entirely different light on a drama that gripped Kenya through the weekend. On Saturday evening, Tuju had allegedly gone missing together with his aide Steve Mwanga. A missing person report was filed at Karen Police Station for both men. Tuju’s vehicle was later found abandoned along Miotoni Lane with its hazard lights still blinking into the night, a discovery that set off frantic speculation about the fate of the former Jubilee secretary-general, who has been entangled in a bitter property dispute involving his Dari Park estate in Karen.

The disappearance triggered a wave of concern from political quarters. ODM chairman Oburu Odinga publicly called for a swift probe. Wiper Patriotic Front Leader Kalonzo Musyoka was among those who converged on the scene when Tuju eventually resurfaced. The abandoned car, the switched-off phone, and the silence had all combined to make the situation look like the kind of enforced disappearance that has haunted Kenya’s political landscape — a suspicion some of Tuju’s supporters voiced openly.

It now turns out that none of it was what it appeared.

According to the DCI, the investigation escalated dramatically after Tuju’s family denied police access to his residence when officers went to check on his welfare. That refusal triggered an immediate tactical response. A multi-agency team of uniformed officers and experienced plainclothes detectives was deployed late at night to cordon off the Karen compound while investigators pursued a court-issued search warrant.

“Following the family’s initial denial of access to Mr. Tuju’s residence, the National Police Service escalated the matter with utmost urgency and resolve,” Amin said. “A combined operational team was immediately deployed to secure the location and, in particular, the residence of Raphael Tuju.”

It was during that nocturnal operation, the DCI says, that intelligence gathered at the scene confirmed Tuju’s physical presence inside the home throughout the period under scrutiny. Then, when investigators were closing in on the truth and the fiction could no longer be held together, Tuju emerged.

“When confronted with the reality that police were closing in on the truth and that his deception could no longer be sustained, Mr. Tuju chose to resurface, thereby confirming the investigators’ well-founded suspicion that this was a carefully staged disappearance rather than a genuine case of abduction,” Amin said.

Tuju was arrested barely hours after resurfacing. The apprehension, captured on camera by media and bystanders, was swift and intensely physical, and it drew immediate cries of outrage from his legal team. His lawyer Ndegwa Njiru, speaking after the incident, alleged that officers had forcefully pushed Tuju into a vehicle, aggravating a pre-existing back injury and leaving the former CS in acute pain. Njiru said doctors had been called to assess his client and that an ambulance had been summoned to transfer Tuju to hospital, describing the situation as a medical emergency.

“They pushed him into the car. He hurt his back, and as we speak, Honourable Tuju is not well,” Njiru told journalists. He also accused officers of attempting to drive off with Tuju before making a formal entry at the police station, and said it was only the physical intervention of those present, including Kalonzo Musyoka, that prevented an immediate removal from the premises.

Njiru further revealed that even at the time of his remarks, no formal charges had been communicated to the defence. “We have just been told Honourable Tuju is under arrest, but we cannot tell the reason for the arrest,” he said, characterising the entire incident as conduct that fell well short of due process. “That was not an arrest. Had it not been for our presence, Tuju might not have been able to speak. They were actually abducting him at a police station.”

The DCI, however, was unmoved by those characterisations and unapologetic about the force of its response. Amin said Tuju has been booked at Karen Police Station and is required to record a comprehensive statement explaining his whereabouts over the weekend, the circumstances surrounding the abandoned motor vehicle, the reports filed by his family, and the identity of the so-called good Samaritans who reportedly provided him with shelter somewhere in Kiambu during the period he was reported missing.

Amin framed the arrest not merely as a response to a single incident of false information but as part of a pattern the DCI says it has grown weary of.

“This is not an isolated occurrence. The DCI has documented numerous similar incidents involving staged disappearances or false abduction claims, often by public figures and even including politically exposed persons, in a disturbing pattern designed to undermine public trust in our law enforcement agencies,” he said.

The director was also pointed in his assessment of Tuju’s motivation, going beyond a finding of deception to attribute a political calculation to the conduct. “This deliberate conduct by Raphael Tuju appears to be a calculated effort to deceive the public, to generate unwarranted sympathy, and to undermine the integrity of the National Police Service, and for that matter, the DCI, for apparent political or personal motives,” Amin said.

The arrest comes against the backdrop of Tuju’s ongoing legal battles over his Karen property. Courts have been the arena for a high-stakes contest between Tuju and creditors, with eviction proceedings and judicial orders playing out in full public view. Related articles by The Star have also documented serious allegations surrounding that dispute, including claims of judicial impropriety connected to the handling of cases involving the property.

Tuju himself, in remarks made after he resurfaced, said fear of police tactics had driven him into hiding, and that a vehicle he believed was trailing him had no number plates, which heightened his alarm. But with the DCI’s findings now on the table, those explanations face a severely hostile reception from the country’s law enforcement leadership.

The National Police Service has made clear it considers the provision of false information a matter of the utmost gravity. Amin warned that such incidents divert critical security resources, generate unnecessary public panic, and carry serious national security implications.

“The National Police Service views the provision of false information to authorities as a very serious offence,” Amin said. “Raphael Tuju has been arrested and booked at the Karen Police Station to record a comprehensive statement.”

The nation, which spent much of a tense weekend worrying whether a senior political figure had been seized by unknown forces, is now absorbing a very different story.