• Ruto appeared to egg on security officers who were forcefully moving journalists from the area near the dais at a wedding in Ilchamus.
• The DP has also dismissed news content that he did not agree with as fake news.
Image: STEPHEN ASTARIKO
Is Deputy President William Ruto increasingly becoming hostile to journalists covering his meetings?
Observers of the DP's recent interactions with journalists say this might be the case. And there are examples to back up their claims.
On August 10, journalists were roughed up at an Ilchamus traditional wedding of Ruto’s aide Amos Ole Mpaka at Ng'ambo in Baringo South Constituency.
He appeared to egg on security officers who were forcefully moving journalists from the area near the dais.
In the middle of his address, Ruto turned to journalists and told them to move further back so that residents could have a better view.
He told the press that he was not at the function to address them.
“Sikukuja kuongea na nyinyi. Baas, si mambo ni namna hiyo? Hao wote wajipange wawache kusumbua sisi,” he said. (I didn't come here to address you. You should stop disturbing us).
After the order, his security officers pushed and roughed up journalists from private media houses, leaving only those from the Deputy President's Press Service.
“I was punched in the face. I almost broke my camera while running away,” a journalist who declined to be named said.
The DP's conduct on social media, particularly his reaction to content he does not agree with have also raised eyebrows.
On August 14 the DP embedded a headline by this newspaper in a tweet disparaging the story.
“This is what constitutes fake news. I know it is difficult but newspapers should try selling without the ‘Ruto’ mention. Please! Tafadhali woiye!” the tweet read.
He, however, did not explain what was fake or what he disagreed with in the story titled, ‘Ruto allies plot to scuttle Uhuru-Raila referendum’.
In another response to a front-page story by the Daily Nation on July 14, Ruto tweeted, “So our democracy is so liberal that the SG of a ruling party has become the chief strategist of the opposition!! Maajabu.”
The paper had reported that the Jubilee secretary general Raphael Tuju was working with ODM boss Raila Odinga as part of his strategists.
Ruto’s foot soldiers explained the tweet to mean that the DP was trashing the story as fake news.
Last year, a Nation photographer nearly had his camera broken after an officer with the DP ejected him from a function in Eldama Ravine.
Media Council of Kenya chief executive David Omwoyo told the Star that the conduct of the DP and people associated with him appeared to be hostile to journalists.
He said that the DP's condescending comments in public "have the potential of inciting people to harm journalists."
Omwoyo, however, explained that in the case of Baringo wedding, the council had established that over 60 people had turned up, purporting to cover the DP, crowding the function.
“While the DP must be careful in his wording not to appear undermining the journalists doing their work, we have noted the increase in the number of quacks claiming to be journalists,” he said.
Omwoyo said the quacks were turning up in numbers at functions and extorting people including politicians.
“If the function has ended, why would people calling themselves journalists follow a person [the DP] to a house where he has retreated privately? I doubt if those were journalists,” Omwoyo said.
Omwoyo said to tame the rise of quacks the MCK will from January next year launch new accreditation cards with electronic chips to allow journalists access functions.
Observers say the DP's conduct against the media has eerie similarities to those of US President Donald Trump.
Trump has, since taking office, been dismissing news media reports that he does not agree with as fake news, undermining the integrity of the press.
(edited by O. Owino)