Kenya woke up to the news that President Uhuru Kenyatta was mentioned in the leaked Panama Papers which claimed his family has stashed multi-billion investments abroad.
The Panama Papers were leaked by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and shared with over 650 journalists from around the world.
According to the ICIJ, two brave Kenyan journalists contributed to the revelation of the extent of the Kenyatta family wealth.
Africa Uncensored’s John Allan Namu and Purity Mukami of Finance Uncovered were listed as the contributors of the explosive report.
John Allan Namu also published a video expose titled Pandora Papers: Kenyatta’s Secret Companies, which detailed the complex web of the first family’s wealth stashed abroad.
“With contributions from the awesome team at Finance Uncovered, we spent months looking through the #PandoraPapers and found companies linked to Mama Ngina Kenyatta, President Uhuru Kenyatta, Muhoho Kenyatta, Kristina Pratt and Nyokabi Muthama,” the journalist shared.
The team was able to tie foreign foundations in the tax haven to the first family which is said to control Sh3 billion in investments.
According to the report, a foundation called Varies Foundation was registered in Panama in 2013 and President Kenyatta and Mama Ngina were reportedly listed as beneficiaries.
“Muhoho Kenyatta owned three registered in the (British Virgin Islands) BVI, according to records: One had a bank account that held an investment portfolio worth Sh3.4 billion in 2016; another had unspecified investments at a bank in London.
“From 1999 to 2004, Ngina Kenyatta and her two daughters held shares in a BVI company, Milrun International Ltd. The sisters used the company to buy a London apartment in the upscale Westminster neighbourhood, according to records,” the Panama Papers read.
Namu is a seasoned award-winning investigative journalist who has shaken the mighty with his expose in crime, corruption and governance.
He has put his life on the line multiple times which has seen him go into hiding to safeguard his family. In a past interview, he disclosed that he has had to pull his children out of school and at one time, his wife lost her job while they were in hiding.
On the other hand, Purity Mukami is an investigative journalist who has learned under the wings of John Allan Namu.
She began her career as a statistics lecturer at various Kenyan universities, then as a banker and researcher before switching to investigative journalism.
A specialist data journalist, Purity has a successful track record in following the money, investigating social networks and identifying stories using statistical methods and open-source intelligence.
Most recently, Purity worked at leading Kenyan independent investigative media outlet, Africa Uncensored. She has also worked with BBC Africa Eye, the ICIJ and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.