Itumbi seeks to make a meal of his travails
Journalists have been wary about exploring the story of the abduction, torture and hospitalization of Dennis Itumbi, who now works as a digital strategist for Deputy President William Ruto.
Keen to use the opportunity provided by his story, Mr Itumbi has decided to dole out on social media, with a promise that he will give the full version at an event, possibly a church service, at his home in Gichugu in Kirinyaga.
Mr Itumbi claims that he was abducted outside a barbershop in Thindigua, Kiambu, tortured and then dumped in Lucky Summer in Kasarani by men he says were policemen.
He suggests that they were acting at the behest of the people in the Interior Ministry’s hierarchy that he has criticized since his fallout with State House, starting with the Head of State and down to the Cabinet Secretary and the heads of the police.
Asked about the veracity of his narrative, Mr Itumbi and his friends have given out the contact details of the first person who helped him after he was dumped and have expressed their readiness to volunteer more information.
The journalists say they doubt his story because of their experience with him and the many times he has led them down the garden path in the course of his career as a communications man for the President and now the Deputy President.
It doesn’t help that he has refused to give his statement to the police, who have declared their readiness to investigate the matter.
His allies have suggested that it would be much easier to track Mr Itumbi’s movements on the day of his abduction using his mobile phone and track those that were around him and moved with him.
Mr Itumbi’s coyness has led some to suggest that he could be looking to seek election later this year.
Ahead of an election, abductions and sudden disappearances become one of the tools politicians find useful to gain sympathy and votes.
Unfortunately, it makes it difficult to establish the truth, even in cases like that involving Chris Msando, the electoral commission official who was found strangled just weeks to the election.