Juja Member of Parliament George Koimburi has been arrested and charged following remarks he made concerning the government’s expenditure on Raila Odinga’s African Union Commission (AUC) chairmanship campaign.
On February 18, 2025, Koimburi was apprehended outside his residence on Kenyatta Road in Juja and taken to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters for questioning.
The arrest came after Koimburi alleged that the government had spent approximately Ksh.13 billion to support Odinga’s unsuccessful bid for the AUC chairmanship. He claimed that President William Ruto attempted to bribe other African leaders using public funds to secure votes for Odinga. These statements led to his arrest on charges of false publication and offensive conduct.
In addition to the cybercrime-related charges, Koimburi is facing six counts of forgery related to his academic credentials. The charges allege that between November and December 1994, he forged a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificate to gain admission into higher education institutions. Further accusations include falsifying certificates from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) between September 2011 and April 2012.
Yesterday Koimburi appeared before the Kiambu Law Courts, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges. The court released him on a Ksh.200,000 cash bail. The case, initially withdrawn in 2021, has been revived by the Director of Public Prosecutions with an additional charge of failing to attend court
Koimburi’s lawyer, Ndegwa Njiru, contends that the charges are politically motivated, aiming to silence the MP’s criticism of the government. The timing of the forgery charges, nearly three decades after the alleged offenses, has raised questions, especially since Koimburi’s academic credentials had previously been vetted and approved by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) during his 2021 by-election campaign