President William Ruto on Friday, April 4, defended Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja’s presence at his Mt. Kenya tour in Nyeri.
While speaking during the handover of Affordable Housing units to police officers, Ruto addressed the debate surrounding Kanja’s presence at his tour, adding that the IG’s presence in Nyeri was solely based on his development tour in the region and not politically motivated.
“Many of the people want to bring unnecessary confusion. I was in Nyeri to hand over title deeds to people, citizens in Nyeri who deserve them. The IG came to that function, and people want to vilify him over his presence at a meeting where we were serving the public,” Ruto stated.
On Wednesday, April 2, the IG joined Ruto during his Mt. Kenya tour and took the opportunity to address the masses. While at the rally, the IG assured Kenyans that the police service remains committed to upholding law and order without fear or favour, emphasizing that the police will serve all Kenyans equally, regardless of their political affiliations.
Even so, his mere presence stirred debate with many curious to know why the IG was attending what many termed as a political event. This prompted the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) to order Kanja to either offer a public apology or resign.
According to LSK President Faith Odhiambo, Kanja committed a significant blunder by attending the rally, arguing that he acted unconstitutionally by failing to remain impartial.
LSK criticized IG Kanja's presence and comments at the politically charged event, stating that they compromised the impartiality of the police service and potentially alienated parts of the Kenyan population with differing political opinions.
However, Ruto dispelled the assertions, citing the importance of the presence of the police in national development and went on to seemingly intimate a deliberate witch hunt of IG Kanja.
“IG, we will continue working with the men in uniform to make sure that we secure the country, develop our country and secure the development of our nation,” he posited.
“And for your information, IG, whenever you are not there, there are so many other officers who represent you, and there is no difference. And they do not come to talk about politics. In the meeting in Nyeri, there were almost 300 officers — why single out the IG?” Ruto quipped.
The Head of State was joined by the National Police Service (NPS) in defending Kanja, clarifying that IG Kanja's presence in Nyeri alongside Ruto was in line with his official duties, which include overseeing enhanced security for the Head of State as he tours Central Kenya, as per Section 24 of the National Police Service Act 2011 and the NPS Standing Orders Chapter 7 Section 8.
Ruto also took the opportunity to dismiss claims that his development tours across the country were being used as political campaigns for the upcoming 2027 General Elections.
“I want to encourage other leaders in Kenya not to look at everything through the prism and lenses of politics. Between each election cycle, there is more important stuff for us to do as a government and as a people,” Ruto noted.
“What is going on here (development tour) for the avoidance of doubt and for those who may be confused for one reason or another, is that there is no campaign in Kenya. We are doing what the people of Kenya asked us to do,” he asserted.
