NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s internal security minister was killed with five other people when the police helicopter they were travelling in crashed in a forest near Kenya’s capital, officials said Sunday. An anti-corruption crusader said the incident calls into question the government’s procurement of airplanes and helicopters for its security forces.
Internal Security Minister George Saitoti and his deputy, Orwa Ojode, were among the
six killed in the crash, Vice-Presi-dent Kalonzo Musyoka said. Two pilots and two bodyguards also died in the crash, officials said.

Kenya’s government declared three days of mourning for the deaths of the ministers.
The death of Saitoti is a “great tragedy that has befallen our country at this time as we are making elaborate preparations to hold peaceful elections,” Prime Minister Raila Odinga said at the scene of the crash, a forest in the city’s outskirts.
It was not immediately clear what caused the accident. Kenyan police cordoned off the scene of the crash and said they were investigating. Rescue officials collected the charred and scattered remains of those killed.
“As we speak now, nobody knows the cause of the accident,” Odinga said. “Nobody knows, and that’s why the experts are going to carry out investigations.” He said that Saitoti and Ojode were on their way to a political event in western Kenya.
Saitoti, an American-trained economist and mathematician, was one of the most visible figures in Kenyan politics. For over a decade he was a deputy to former President Daniel arap Moi.
As security minister he was the government’s spokesman on security matters, including Kenya’s decision to send troops to Somalia last year. Analysts say he played a key role in that decision. Saitoti appeared often on national television to reassure the public in the aftermath of deadly attacks blamed on the Somali militant group al-Shabab.

Johnnie Carson, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said during a visit to Kenya on Sunday that Kenya “has lost one of its most outstanding public servants.”
Anti-Corruption crusader Mwalimu Mati said the crash should make the country focus on the history of bogus government purchases for the Kenya Police Air wing. Mati runs the corruption watchdog Mars Group, which has done several reports on the government’s purchase of police helicopters and their maintenance. It has called the purchases questionable, and pointed out that they have cost the country millions of dollars since 1999.
“Corruption in public procurement can come back to bite you,” Mati said.