The spotlight shone on Deputy President William Ruto’s 257-police security detail, according to Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua, has made the second-in-command look bad, especially to people living in the villages and towns where the security situation is dire.
Governor Mutua, speaking on Citizen TV’s Day Break, said the security issue had not garnered the DP any sympathy across the country, contrary to claims.
It was ludicrous, according to Governor Mutua, for a country with a security workforce crisis to deploy a brigade of cops to guard chicken.
He appeared to be referring to the DP’s Koitalel Poultry Farm in Eldoret, which is said to be guarded by four Administration Police (AP) officers, according to the Ministry of Interior.
“This has made the DP look very bad, especially to people who live in villages and towns who are suffering from criminal elements,” Governor Mutua said on Thursday. “You go to to ask for security and you are told there are not enough police officers,”
The Machakos county boss argued that while the Deputy President should be protected adequately, like a president in waiting, the lines should be clear on to what extent the protection goes.
“This is the DP, this is the person who is second in command; if anything happened to the President, God forbid, he would be the one to take over. So that person has to be protected as if that person is a president in waiting,” Mutua said, “ But, does this protection extend to chicken, or carrots, or the cows?”
During the same interview, Governor Mutua said the focus should now be on whether the system has been abused as far as the security matter in concerned.
“Our police should be boots on the ground, not guarding chicken , kuku anapita hapo anapigiwa salute na GSU officer, na huko Kisumu, ama Kayole watu wanauliwa na wakora,” Mutua added.
Governor Mutua, on the other hand, maintained that the mystery of who allocated all those officers to the DP should also be solved.
“Who assigned the DP all these officers, because if he did not assign them himself, then you cannot accuse him of having too many,” Mutua argued.
The latest comes just a day after Interior Ministry CS Fred Matiang’i let the cat out of the bag, disclosing that DP Ruto is Kenya’s most heavily guarded deputy, with 257 police officers assigned to his homes and businesses.
In comparison to previous holders of the office being held by Ruto, Matiang’i demonstrated that all previous vice presidents had only 14 officers from the Presidential Escort Unit assigned to them yet Ruto has 74.
For the officers guarding residences of previous vice presidents, all of Ruto’s predecessors had between eight to 16 officers assigned to them while Ruto has 183.
