NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 5 – Uganda has denied meddling in Kenya’s affairs days after Deputy President William Ruto was stopped from flying to Uganda on a private visit.
DP Ruto’s office on Monday said he was kept waiting at the airport for five hours with immigration officials saying he had not been cleared to travel.
A statement from Uganda’s Foreign Office on Thursday indicated the ministry had not arranged protocol for DP Ruto’s aborted visit as no request had been made to provide protocol services to him.
“I was not informed by the chief of protocol being requested by the Kenyan High Commission in Uganda to provide protocol services to the deputy president,” Okello Oryem, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, said.
He noted that Uganda’s foreign policy is clear and that the country could not interfere in the internal affairs of any country whatsoever.
The office further said it’s not in their mandate to stop the DP from travelling to Uganda, adding that the sole responsibility lies with the Kenyan government.
“We have no authority, we have no power over the Kenyan government. They have their own reason why they prevented HE Ruto from coming to Uganda and that should be channeled to the Kenyan High Commission,” the minister remarked.
During a recent interview with Inooro FM, the Deputy President said the incident was part of a plot aimed to lure him into a confrontation with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He said the move was a continuation of attempts by his political enemies to portray him as disrespectful to Kenyatta, an allegation he dismissed.
Ruto said that as a Kenyan, he is also entitled to privacy and clarified that his friendship with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni had no ill intent.
“President Museveni is a friend of the President of Kenya and also a friend of mine… I have campaigned for him in Uganda. I’m not entitled to friends?” he posed.