The Kenyan minister claims that an intelligence agency is behind the kidnapping of his son

A minister in the Kenyan government has claimed that the country's national intelligence agency was behind the kidnapping of his son last year, while criticism against the increase in kidnapping cases continues.

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi said he received a call from President William Ruto that his son would be released by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

Muturi is the first cabinet member to publicly criticize the government's handling of the number of evictions in Kenya.

In a statement to the police crime investigation unit on Tuesday, Muturi gave a detailed account of how his son, Leslie, was abducted on June 22 last year.

Mr Ruto and the intelligence agency have not commented on his allegations.

At least 80 people, including the minister's son, have been kidnapped in the past six months, according to a state-funded rights group.

The wave of evictions began after protests against tax increases last June, and has continued ever since.

Some of the abductees were released after public pressure.

Earlier this week, the minister told journalists that he had not received answers about his son's removal, despite reaching out to top security officials.

Muturi said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) urged him to file a statement with them, telling him the case was still under investigation.

In his statement to the DCI, Muturi recalled calling the inspector general of police, the interior minister, the head of the DCI, the head of the intelligence agency and other top officials as he desperately searched for his son – but, he said, they were all powerless to help.

He said he also sent a message to Ruto, but later decided to visit his official residence to raise the issue directly with him.

“I then told the problem (to the president) including my interactions with various senior government officials who were unable to help. I expressed my opinion that NIS was holding my son,” Muturi said in a statement.

He said the president made a joke about the matter and then called the head of the intelligence agency, who promised to release his son in an hour.

“I heard the president asking (NIS director) Noordin Haji if he was holding my son. (He) confirmed that he was indeed holding my son and the president ordered him to release Leslie if released immediately,” Muturi said.

Muturi has faced calls from some politicians linked to the government to resign for publicly criticizing the government in which he serves.

Foreign nationals have also been abducted, including prominent Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai, who on Monday told how she was abducted by armed men and released several hours later that.

Last year, Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was kidnapped in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, allegedly by Ugandan security officials, and brought across the border for trial by court-martial.