Moses Masika Wetangula, the National Assembly Speaker, is a prisoner in his own country because he cannot travel to Middle Eastern countries for fear of being arrested.
Wetangula got into trouble in the Middle East in 2019 when he allegedly tried to con UAE ruler Sheikh Maktoum out of Sh 400 million by pretending to sell him gold from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Wetangula mentioned former President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and former Interior CS Fred Matiangi as his accomplices in a taped phone conversation.
Wetangula, the then-Senator of Bungoma, lied to Sheikh Maktoum about his gold being seized at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), even printing fake front pages of two major local newspapers as proof.
When he learned that his gold had been seized, Sheikh Maktoum summoned Uhuru and Raila Odinga to Dubai and begged them to release his gold from JKIA.
Uhuru, who despised lying, told Sheikh Maktoum that no gold had been seized at JKIA and that he had been duped.
When Sheikh Maktoum learned of this, he issued a travel warning to all Middle Eastern countries, warning them that if Wetangula and his associates set foot there, they would be imprisoned for life.
Wetangula has repeatedly denied being involved in the “Dubai Gold Scam.”
