I hold secret meetings with a lot of leaders, says Ruto

Deputy President William Ruto says several leaders do not openly work with him for fear of reprisals by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

Speaking to Radio Jambo’s Gidi Ogidi, DP Ruto accused the DCI of a political witch-hunt.

DP Ruto said the directorate’s inclination to prefer corruption charges on leaders who openly support him is politically motivated.

“Everybody knows this; if you visit or are seen as a friend of the deputy president, the next day, you will get a visit from the DCI. Not because you have stolen anything. I, thus, meet with a lot of leaders in secret. Many plainly tell me, ‘let’s meet and plan how we’ll work going forward, politic but we can’t meet openly because you know what will follow’,” said DP Ruto.

DP Ruto, who alleged that DCI is being misused to scuttle his presidential bid, revealed that he often holds secret meetings with the leaders so as to shield them from a ‘DCI firestorm that would come with a public meeting’.

“The fight against corruption cannot succeed if it is being used to run political agendas,” added the DP. “The problem is that my competitors lack policies or agendas to sell to Kenyans. And because they have poor ideologies, they try to frustrate their opponents using corruption.” 

The sentiments reignite his 2020 war with the directorate when he accused it of intimidating and persecuting his allies for political expediency.

In a tweet after DCI boss George Kinoti  reopened the lid into the 2007/2008 Post Election Violence (PEV) cases, Ruto said the top spy was out to stifle his hustler movement’s agenda.

“The provocative incitement to ethnic hate/division intended by the resurrection of Post-Election Violence (PEV) is an evil attempt to resuscitate the tribe project destroyed by the hustler movements’ realisation that poverty & unemployment deliberately bred by poor leadership is our problem not our tribes,” tweeted DP Ruto.

According to Kinoti, however, the ‘re-opening' was necessitated by threats against the lives of PEV victims and reports of ethnic profiling in certain regions.

“We have registered around 72 cases from those whose wives, husbands, children were killed…We have recorded cases of some who were driven out of their homes…We have 118 cases in total registered today with complainants and witnesses,” said Kinoti at the time.

Kinoti would later back down saying his comments were misconstrued.

“My address yesterday was in no way intended to mean that we are going to open completed cases which were investigated and closed. It was an acknowledgement of concerns raised by Kenyans, to assure the public of the commitment of the DCI to investigate all reported threats to security and to sensitize the public on the need for peaceful co-existence,” stated the DCI.

The damage was, however, already done and attracted the wrath of President Uhuru Kenyatta who chastised the DCI boss saying the PEV matter had been buried.

“You don't think before you talk, you don't think before you act. You must always think before you do something,” said President Kenyatta.

Dismissing Kinoti’s concerns also, Ruto's ally Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwah said the remarks were a confirmation of their claim that the DCI was blackmailing the DP's allies and stoking fears.

"The political circus and shenanigans Kinoti has been taken through by these political brokers and conmen, from the fight against Corruption to now an attempt to drive ethnic animosity in the Rift to rescue BBI are appalling," said Ichungwah.