Deputy President William Ruto has denied owning properties listed by Interior CS Fred Matinag’i in documents submitted before the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security on Wednesday, September 1.
The DP, through his spokesperson David Mugonyi, termed the properties as strange saying he is shocked that security officers were deployed to protect them.
He, however, did not specify which properties are his and those that are not.
“To underscore Matiang’i recklessness, many particulars allocated to the Deputy President in his statement to Parliament are in fact not his. To add salt to injury, Matiang’i asserts that he deployed security officers to these unknown strange properties,” Mugonyi said in the statement.
According to Mugonyi, CS Matiang’i linking the DP to most of the listed properties aimed at tainting his image and that of his office.
At the same time, DP Ruto defended his wealth saying he acquired them legally and has always been ready to account for them.
“In any event, the Deputy President went on record as early as 2018 to announce his readiness to undergo a lifestyle audit per the President’s directive. This false association with strange and fictitious properties is therefore unnecessary and malicious,” Mugonyi added.
While appearing before the National Assembly Security Committee on Wednesday, Matiang’i listed 10 Ruto’s businesses, farms and private residences.
They include:
- Kitengela Gas
- Weston Hotel, Nairobi
- Murumbi Farm – Transmara Narok
- ADC Laikipia Mutara Ranch – 15000 acres
- Dolphine Hotel, Mombasa
- Mata Farm, Taita Taveta – 2537 acres
- Private residence Elgon View
- Koitalel poultry farm Eldoret
- Private Residence in Kosachei Eldoret
- Kwae Island Development Ltd – Wilson Airport (2 hangers and 5 helicopters)
The CS explained that these properties are guarded by security officers provided by the state.
He further said that DP Ruto has 74 presidential escort team, five GSU drivers and six DCI officers in his inner cycle of the security team.
“The presidential escort team for DP is intact. These are people who have been with him for a long time. No one has changed them,” Matiang’i told the committee.
The CS clarified that another 121 police officers are seconded to the DP in his layer 2 security detail to guard his official premises.
“I want to make this very clear. It is not true that the DP is not protected. No one withdrew the security of the Deputy President. It was just a rearrangement,” Matiang’i explained.
