NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 19 – National Government Administration Officers (NGAO) ostensibly working on orders issued by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi on Saturday brought down a plaque at a newly commissioned police station bearing Deputy President William Ruto’s name.
Nakuru County Commissioner Erastus Mbui is reported to have ordered security officers to remove the plaque at Lanet Police Station as soon as Ruto after unveiling a modern police station funded through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) under the patronage of Bahati lawmaker Kimani Ngunjiri.
The unidentified security officers also erased CDF branding painting the wall black.
Njunjiri condemned the move as immature.
“For the police to be manipulated to vandalize Lanet Police Station after launching it with DP William Ruto truly shows how immature some of us are. According to the CDF Act, all laws were followed and even the branding done as per the Act,” he said.
Mbui denied issuing the orders. He said, “I have no powers over police.”
The newly commissioned building was constructed to replace an existing wooden structure housing the security installation.
Ruto commissioned the station in the company of the host MP and a number of local leaders including Senator Susan Kihika (Nakuru), Liza Chelule (Nakuru) and Jayne Kihara (Naivasha).
Others who accompanied him were Daniel Tuitoek (Mogotio), Aden Duale (Garissa Township), Rigathi Gachagua (Mathira) and Gachobe Kinuthia (Subukia).
The unprecedented move is the latest in a barrage of attacks directed at Ruto and his brigade in the rebranded United Democratic Alliance (UDA), an alliance partner in the ruling Jubilee Party which renamed before Ruto took over as its de facto leader.
The Saturday incident came in the wake of repeated directives by Matiangi to NGAO officials to maintain loyalty to President Uhuru Kenyatta and “follow in his footsteps” ahead of the 2022 General Election.
Speaking in Kisumu on December 16, Matiangi warned administration officials against disloyalty even as he ordered them to ensure all uncollected Identity Cards are issued to ensure people in the region are able to register as voters.
“How do you expect them to register if you still have the IDs with you? All these cards must get to their respective owners,” he told officials who included chiefs and their assistants.
A diehard critic of Ruto, Matiangi has often told administration officials to shun leaders who contradict government position.
During his Kisumu visit on December 16, the Interior Cabinet Secretary reiterated his support for former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s candidature in the 2022 presidential contest.
Odinga who declared his candidature on December 10 enjoys the backing of key government officials including Cabinet Secretaries Joe Mucheru (ICT), Peter Munya (Agriculture), Keriako Tobiko (Environment) and Eugene Wamalwa (Defence).
The Cabinet Secretary has been vocal critics of Ruto often saying they only take orders from President Kenyatta in veiled references to Ruto.
Ruto’s relationship with his boss appeared to have sunk to the rock-bottom after the Deputy President’s persistent opposition to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), a constitution review process annulled by the court twice: at the Constitutional Court and Court of Appeal.
President Kenyatta has insisted that the BBI, whose petition awaits determination in January at the Supreme Court, will be revived without giving indications on when that could happen.
Ruto has often blamed Odinga and the BBI, a process the ODM leader jointly unveiled with President Kenyatta when they inked a truce in March 2018 after a highly contested election, as the reason government agenda had derailed.
