NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 3 – Deputy President William Ruto was belittled at the Wilson Airport during a stalemate that lasted well over five hours as immigration officials declined to clear his flight to Uganda, his entourage said on Monday.
Kiharu lawmaker Ndindi Nyoro who was part of the 7-member delegation booked on a chartered flight to Entebbe said, while making efforts to contact relevant authorities to unlock the stalemate, officials were overheard saying Ruto should have presented his birth certificate or a letter for his area chief for clearance.
“We saw something unprecedented upon arrival at the airport. Those of us who are Members of Parliament were told to seek clearance from the House leadership. Upon seeking the same, Parliament was categorical that we needed no clearance,” Nyoro said.
“The DP inquired what clearance he was give and all he was told was that there orders from above. People in Immigration Department told us CS Fred Matiangi issued the instructions. He was contacted and denied giving such directives,” he added.
Nyoro said Ruto also reached the Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Joseph Kinyua who said he was not aware of the order.
Ruto’s Press Secretary David Mugonyi was quoted saying the Deputy President had been asked to seek clearance from Kinyua.
“When got to the airport, he was asked to seek clearance from the Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet. We are surprised. This has never happened in nine years,” he said.
Ruto has made several visits to Uganda the recent being on July 7 when he met President Yoweri Museveni at State House Entebbe.
He also accompanied Museveni for a State function during which the Ugandan leader launched the construction of a multibillion pharmaceutical drugs manufacturing facility, De BioPharm Ltd.
Other than Nyoro, Ruto’s delegation included lawmakers Oscar Sudi (Kapsaret) and Benjamin Tayari (Kinango). Businessman Harun Aydin, David Lagat, Eric Ruto and Elijah Rono were also part of Ruto’s delegation.
In December 2019, Makerere University named a Leadership Institute after Ruto when the DP visited. Top administration officials accompanied him to lay a foundation stone for the institute.
Ruto’s regional trips have however raised eyebrows among State operatives allied to his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta, whom he fell out with in succeeding months after the March 9, 2018 handshake with then political rival Raila Odinga.
Subsequently, President Kenyatta made far-reaching changes in government appointing Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi the Chairperson of a Cabinet to committee tasked with the running of government ostensibly displacing Ruto.
Ruto was also excluded from meetings to assess the country’s response to coronavirus. At one point his speech during a virtual summit bringing together the national COVID-19 response committee and the Council of Governor was cut short midway in what was later blamed to poor internet connectivity, an assertion his office denied.
The DP has also suffered humiliating protocol breaches, at one point being forced to watch at CS Matiangi formally received President Kenyatta for a cabinet retreat in Manyani, Voi.
In recent State functions, Ruto has consciously been speak before ODM leader Raila Odinga who is often invited to the podium by the President to make remarks before he does, marking a departure for previous events when the DP would invite any scheduled speaker before making his remarks and thereafter introduce he Head of State.
The relationship between the pair, once dubbed the dynamic duo when they formed government in 2013, appears to have been irreparably damaged.
Jubilee Party, the outfit the formed in 2017 after collapsing their individual parties, declared him persona non grata shuttering his dreams of running for the presidency in 2022 using the outfit.
In the November 8, 2019 Kibra by-election, leading Jubilee Party figures loyal to President Kenyatta campaign against the party’s candidate McDonald Mariga, instead rooting for ODM’s Imran Okoth after Ruto had his way on the party choice for the race.
The party later pulled out of a by-election in Msambweni to lock out Ruto’s preferred candidate forcing him to back an independent candidate who later won the seat.
Ruto has since shifted focus to a rebranded political outfit, the United Democratic Alliance, which has so far won parliamentary seats in Juja and Kiamba when Jubilee dominated in the 2017 general election.
About The Author
