NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 8- Wiper Democratic Movement Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka has faulted Deputy President William Ruto for breach of Government protocol on his aborted trip to Uganda.
Kalonzo said as per the Government protocols, the Deputy President must seek clearance from the President before travelling out of Kenyan borders.
“Truth be told I was a vice President for five years but there was no way I would have left the boundaries of this country without the permission of President Mwai Kibaki. It does not work that way. So I am telling Deputy President to come out clear and say because on this one, he did not get it right,” Kalonzo said.
Ruto has protested the move by immigration officials to block him from traveling when he showed up at the airport last week, ready to fly to Uganda on a chartered flight.
They told him he did not have clearance from the Head of Public Service but he insists he is not required to seek permission from anyone to travel, because he has always travelled in the nine years he has been a Deputy President.
“This is the work of a few state officials out to push me for a confrontation with the president, but I have refused,” Ruto told Inooro radio in an interview after the aborted trip.
Ruto said he was taking a private visit with a Turkish investor he helped secure Sh15 billion to set up a vaccine plant in Uganda, in what has elicited mixed reactions.
The investor Harun Aydin was allowed to travel on Monday when Ruto was blocked but he was arrested on arrival at JKIA when he flew back to Nairobi for interrogation by immigration and anti terrorism police.
Ruto has protested the arrest.
Turkish investor,Aydin Harun, is a victim of top-down arrogance bred by patronage & cartels that criminalise enterprise.Importers' goods declared contraband,Africa spirits closed, keroche harassed, now investor with valid papers labelled terrorist.Tragedy of political pettiness. pic.twitter.com/PSXdGcFXlK
— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) August 7, 2021
On Sunday, Kalonzo said Ruto was not justified to fly out with the president’s permission.
“I am now talking to you as a man of great experience let us follow protocol regardless of who we are with. They will know that this country is properly run. We must have good order for security purposes,” Kalonzo added.
Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho too confirmed that the DP requires clearance to travel.
Ruto spent 5 hours at the airport waiting for clearance and eventually cancelled the trip in what is seen as an escalation of his differences with President Uhuru Kenyatta with whom they fell out soon after the March 2018 handshake with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
