Deputy President William Ruto has dismissed complaints raised by Administration Police officers guarding his Karen home that they are being denied food.
William Ruto’s communication secretary David Mugonyi on Friday, November 12, dismissed the claims saying the deputy president’s guards are being provided with food accordingly.
Mugonyi however acknowledged that the problem facing William Ruto’s bodyguards was the delay in paying their allowances.
“We have provided them with food. The only complaint I am aware of delays to pay their allowances,
“The officers are under the office of Inspector General of Police. Their welfare is catered for by that office. Even the GSU were under the Inspector General,” Mugonyi told the Daily Nation.
This was after the Ministry of Interior wrote to the deputy president protesting over what they termed as starvation.
In a letter to the Ministry of Interior dated November 11, the secretary of internal security said the guards at William Ruto home are unable to discharge their duties due to starvation.
“They are deployed there permanently for day and night duties and cannot move out to get food supplies,” read part of the letter.
The secretary of internal security argued that the Administration Police officers are being treated differently from their GSU counterparts who were recalled from Ruto’s homes on August 26, 2021.
“This is in contrast (with) their counterparts from GSU whom they replaced and who used to get food rations.”
In August 2021, the State withdrew GSU officers who had been guarding William Ruto’s residences since he took office in 2013, sparking a storm.
The GSU officers from the G-Company were replaced by officers drawn from the Security of Government Buildings (SGB) unit.
While the National Police Service (NPS) explained the replacement of the GSU officers with AP officers was a “normal reassignment to enhance efficiency,” the second in command protested the action saying it was meant to humiliate him following his fall out with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
