NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 3 – The reduction of the security detail of immediate former president Uhuru Kenyatta has touched off major uproar across the country.
Leaders allied to Kenyatta said his security was scaled down six, just five months after handing over to his estranged deputy William Ruto who won the presidential election, defeating long-time Opposition chief Raila Odinga who enjoyed the establishment’s backing.
Reports indicate that General Service Unit officers attached to Kenyatta and members of his immediate family, including his mother Mama Ngina were recalled and only a few left.
Kenyatta has been enjoying protection from more than 15 security personnel since leaving office in August last year when he handed over to his estranged deputy.
The same is said to have happened to influential officials who served in his cabinet, including Fred Matiangi who wedged a ruthless campaign to stop Ruto from ascending to power.
Also recalled are security personnel attached to former Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho who worked with Matiangi to stop a Ruto presidency based on their public actions and utterances.
Matiangi and Kibicho were always on crossroads with Ruto when he served as Deputy President, often scaling down his security and publicly telling him off as he sharpened his ambitions to succeed Kenyatta in elections.
“They now have only two security personnel each,” a source told Capital FM.
There was no immediate comment from the government even as criticism piled up, with leaders saying Kenyatta’s security is guaranteed by law.
“The security of a former head of state/government — in America or in a banana republic like Kenya — isn’t a political matter. It’s about the security of the state itself. Should harm befall a former head of state/government, there would be hell to pay. My two cents,” Odinga’s Spokesman Prof. Makau Mutua tweeted.
Kenyatta and Ruto were elected overwhelmingly voted in but fell out during their second term in office when the president invited the Opposition leader into government after months of political unrest stemming from vote-rigging claims.
