This archive report was first published on 22 December 2019.
Deputy President William Ruto has downplayed allegations by Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua that he threatened him at State House, Nairobi on December 11th, 2019.
Speaking in Budalang'i, Busia County, where he attended a sports event, DP Ruto laughed off the claims, terming them a non-issue.
‘You heard him complaining that I firmly gripped his hands to suggest I was threatening him. Had he shaken hands with this man who rows a boat here, what would he say? I just shook his hands and gazed at him, and that was enough for him to run to the police station to report that I had threatened him. Had he greeted this man who rows a boat, he would have run to the ICC in The Hague to report him,' said Ruto.
DP Ruto's comments come after Governor Mutua recorded a statement with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) alleging that his life was in danger after he was threatened by DP Ruto at State House.
According to Mutua, he was a guest at State House for a banquet in honor of the Barbados Prime Minister Mia Motley on December 11th, 2019. He claimed that DP Ruto firmly grabbed his hand and told him ‘you fellow, you have been attacking me very much…I must now crush you…I will crush you.'
However, the National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale and his Senate counterpart Kipchumba Murkomen have dismissed Mutua's claims of being threatened by them on a separate occasion at State House on November 25th.
