• Four Cabinet Secretaries, some PSs and senior officials from Mt Kenya were alleged to have masterminded the plan to eliminate the DP.
• The Directorate of Criminal Investigations began the probe on June 24 after an anonymous letter alleging the plot went viral on social media
Image: FILE
The investigations into an alleged plot to assassinate Deputy President William Ruto is shrouded in mystery seven months later.
Four Cabinet Secretaries, some PSs and senior officials from Mt Kenya were alleged to have masterminded the plan to eliminate the DP.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations began the probe on June 24 after an anonymous letter alleging the plot went viral on social media.
The letter was allegedly written to the President by a CS protesting against meetings convened by colleagues from Mt Kenya to plan how to stop Ruto from succeeding Uhuru in 2022.
However, the officials told detectives at the DCI headquarters along Kiambu Road that the agenda of the secretive meeting was the development of Mt Kenya region.
The denied plotting to kill the DP.
The Cabinet Secretaries — Peter Munya (Industrialisation), Sicily Kariuki (Health) and Joe Mucheru (ICT) declined to record statements unless the DP made a formal complaint against them.
Munya who spoke on behalf of the CSs argued that the standard procedure is that if someone makes an allegation of that nature then by law they should record a statement.
Ruto is understood to have taken the position that the DCI should have opened investigations anyway because the threats were against a sitting deputy president.
It is the DP who raised the matter with the President who then asked DCI director George Kinoti to investigate the claims.
The DCI arrested and charged State House director of digital, innovations and diaspora communication Dennis Itumbi on allegations he authored the letter.
Opinion is divided on whether the DP should have filed a formal complaint about the claims.
Security consultant George Musamali said there is a laid down procedure that police must follow before opening investigations.
“It is a legal requirement that before police move in to investigate any allegation or any crime, there must be a formal complaint filed by a person. The police cannot act on speculations,” he said.
He said the DP should make a formal complaint if the matter is to be investigated to conclusion.
“It will set a bad precedent if police start investigating things from nowhere. The complainant must report and get an OB number,” Musamali said.
He said the procedure is that one must make a complaint to a gazetted police station and then action should be taken from there.
“When somebody is dead, that is a different matter altogether. It now becomes an inquiry into the death. What will be done will be an inquest not an investigation per se,” he said.
Security expert Caleb Wanga said investigations into the assassination plot were complicated because it involved a high profile government official.
Wanga who is a security coordinator at Usalama Reform Forum said that the allegation could have been a real threat to the life of the DP or a wider political strategy to get public sympathy.
“I think because of his position in government he could not subject himself to record the statement. This may have complicated the situation even if there were chances of preferring criminal charges against the plotters,” he said.
He added, “That could be the reason the investigations may have stalled or was called off completely. It has left the DCI in an awkward position.”
The allegations were so grievous that the state moved to beef up the security detail of the DP, especially his mode of transport.
A trend where county commissioners and security officials were previously ordered from attending the DP’s whirlwind functions across the country stopped.
Senate Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen said that the claims were serious and should not be just brushed aside.
“The allegations were and still are serious that you do not want to take them for granted and I do not think we should focus so much on the authenticity of the letter but more on the authenticity of the allegations. Why people take the assassination conversation seriously is because there is a background to it,” he said.
Belgut MP Nelson Koech observed that while the allegations were serious, the DCI bungled investigations going for the author of the letter instead of the contents.
“It is unfortunate that investigators pursued the wrong agenda. The content of the letter mattered more, and those alleged to have been plotting to assassinate the DP admitted that they had been meeting,” he said.
Koech said the DCI should update Kenyans on the investigations so far and give timelines going forward.
Kiminini MP Didmas Barasa, a close ally of the DP said, “Essentially it is the prerogative of the police to protect Kenyans and more so the elected Deputy President and the President”.
Barasa said the DP or the President cannot record statements regarding their security, especially when threatened by senior government officials.
It should be taken seriously, he said.