Exclusive: Revealed - Why President Uhuru's jet turned back

 President Kenyatta returns from a trip abroad

Intriguing details have emerged following President Uhuru Kenyatta's aborted overseas trip two weeks ago.

While initial reports indicated Uhuru was forced to cancel his trip to Los Angeles, United States over blunder in plane's routing—which essentially would have sent the President's jet to the raging war zone on the skies over Yemen, details now emerge of a possible mechanical explanation to the saga.

Indeed, the mechanical angle throws another spanner in the works of a saga that baffled even the most seasoned VIP handlers—and raises fundamental questions as to what could have been behind the rather embarrassing incident.

Could the President's jet have developed mechanical problems mid-air forcing the crew to turn back? Why did it take State House 12 hours to tell the country the trip had backfired?

Even more intriguing: Did the flight crew of the President's jet actually alert the tower at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) of a technical problem just before landing?

Sources at JKIA, including impeccable aviation sources and sources close to the military intimated to The Nairobian that Uhuru's plane was forced to turn back due to a mechanical hitch.

The flight engineer is understood to have stood his ground that the journey could not proceed after he become dissatisfied with the aircraft's performance en-route to Dubai from where Uhuru was to connect a commercial flight to the US.

The flight crew of the president's jet also known as Kenya Air-force One consists of two pilots and a flight engineer, all senior Air Force officers.

When it comes to the plane's airworthiness, it emerged, the flight engineer is the last word—he can even overrule the President.

And on this occasion—aviation sources revealed he made the decision to turn back after the plane allegedly developed mechanical problems.

More intriguing, however, is the fact that the decision to turn back was made even before the plane entered Eritrean airspace, contrary to arguments that the plane was already in Eritrean airspace—and that the country's aviation authorities even attempted to force it to land over an alleged bad blood between Eritrea and her Ethiopian neighbours from whence the plane originated.

Indeed, Eritrea has since vehemently defended itself over accusations that it denied Uhuru's jet entry into her airspace.

The Eritrean Embassy in Nairobi has since written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to complain about media reports that suggested that the country denied the President passage through its airspace.

"The Embassy of the State of Eritrea would like to bring to the esteemed Ministry's attention that it (the Embassy) collaborated by promptly providing the requested clearance of over flying permit for the President's aircraft in a matter of 20 minutes. This was accomplished when contacted by Protocol department by phone, without waiting for a formal letter of request, to which the department and office of the airport commander responded by words of gratitude and thanks," the letter said in part.

It added: "The Embassy collaborated by providing the required over flying permits and that the plane never entered the air space of Eritrea and that there was no communication of whatever kind between Eritrean controllers and the plane as has been erroneously described in the media."

JKIA sources reveal Uhuru's plane sent a distress signal minutes before landing—sending the airport's management into an emergency mode.

"You should have seen the confusion and flurry of activity at the airport just before the plane landed—it is the kind of emergency procedure adopted when the facility is receiving a stricken plane," said a senior aviation source whom we cannot name due to the sensitivity of the matter.

He added: "It is unlikely that a crew of any plane would send out such an emergency alert if there was none."