Gossip: UN report links Kenyan Parliament official to terrorist funding

Mombasa, Kenya: A UN report has sensationally linked an official of the Kenyan Parliament to the Al Shabaab terrorist group, which has claimed responsibility for scores of deaths from grenade attacks in several parts of the country.


The employee of Kenya’s Parliament in Nairobi supports terrorism and recruitment of jihadist fighters into Somalia, says the UN report monitoring Al Shabaab’s activities in Somalia and Eritrea.

The official is described as “employed by the Kenyan parliament” but also sits on the committee of a city mosque that allegedly finances terrorism and recruitment of fighters in Kenya through a separate entity called Al Hijra.

The report says he provides advice to alleged terror organisations to circumvent the Kenya Prevention of Terrorism Act 2012, and to conceal connections between the terror groups.

His alleged support began last year when Kenya’s anti- terrorism law was enacted, according to the report dated July 12, which suggests that it could be continuing.

The report, which is prepared for the UN Security Council, does not provide his motivation for supporting Al Hijra but suggests that support for Al Shabaab is considered as a ‘religious obligation’ in radical circles and that the man provides specialised services, including concealing links between the committee on which he sits and Al Shabaab and Al Hijra.

The employee sits on the Riyadha Mosque Committee based in Nairobi’s Pumwani slums, which is believed to be the main source of funding for Al Hijra, which supports Al Shabaab’s activities in Kenya, Somalia and the rest of East Africa.

The privilege

“In October last year, a committee official (Riyadha Mosque Committee) employed at the Kenyan Parliament, began to encourage and advise the committee on ways and means of concealing its support to Al Shabaab through Al Hijra.”

The Standard has reliably learnt the employee works for the Hansard Department, which is responsible for maintaining verbatim records of all parliamentary business in both open and closed-door sessions. We were, however, unable to immediately establish whether he works for the Senate or National Assembly.

Due to the privilege, parliamentary employees have access to swathes of confidential information, including deliberations on sensitive national security matters closed to the public.

Source: Standard Digital News