‘I Don’t Do Drugs’ – William Kabogo Denies Claims Of Drug Trafficking

ICT and Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary nominee William Kabogo has once again denied claims of involvement in the drug trade.

Appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Appointments on Tuesday, January 14 Kabogo told MPs that he was cleared of any wrongdoing following allegations made in a report tabled by late Internal Security Minister, George Saitoti.

“I would like to repeat this…I was implicated but later cleared by authorities. The report by Saitoti had significant loopholes and was ultimately dismissed by this House. I even sued some of those who implicated me, won the case, and was awarded damages,” said Kabogo.

He dismissed the claims, which he lightly said would not pass for the local drama series ‘Inspector Mwala’s script, clarifying that he had never involved himself in narcotics and that investigative bodies later vindicated him.

“I have never ever dealt with drugs of any kind all my life; I do not imagine Junet was talking about Panadol but I know he is talking about hard drugs cocaine and the rest,” he said.

“It is very disturbing subject but I invite Kenyans also to have a look at the dossier that Mr Saitoti brought to the House. The dossier is such that if it was given to Inspector Mwala, it would not pass Mwala’s script.”

Kabogo added, “Police did a thorough investigation and gave a report a month later. It was tabled and is part of the records in the House, and they found that I was not culpable. I had never been involved in drug trafficking, and I had never been a driver of Hon. Mwau, as that dossier had said.”

According to Kabogo, he is an astute businessman and during the allegations, he even offered to travel to the United States to assist with investigations.

Kabogo further argues that he also moved to court to sue those who defamed him at the time including current Nyali MP Mohamed Ali, who at the time was an investigative reporter. He said he was compensated after the conclusion of the case.

“I actually said on the floor that there was no need for anyone trying to do extradition proceedings to get me to travel to the US to answer the proceedings. I offered to travel to any part of the world but it never happened,” he said.

“The authors of that dossier probably didn’t get what they wanted in messing with people’s names. I took them to court, it has taken long about 8 to 9 years, and finally, I got justice and was paid a little money. Circulation is still going on, and it is something I am going to live with all my life, but I don’t do drugs.”

In 2010, Saitoti’s report to Parliament alleged that then MPs Gidion Mbuvi (Makadara), Hassan Joho (Kisauni), Assistant Minister Harun Mwau (Kilome), and William Kabogo (Juja) were under investigation for involvement in the narcotics trade.