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Kenyan Digest

My office does not procure for ministries, says DP Ruto

2 min read
Published 16 February 2020

Deputy President William Ruto has reacted again to reports linking his office to Ksh39 billion firearm scandal.

The DP has taken to his twitter handle for a second time to tell off those dragging his office into the scandal.

Ruto said Sunday morning that his office does not procure for any ministry or department stating that his political detractors were behind what he termed as sponsored ‘nonsense’ in the media.

He claimed that 23 other ministries are situated in Harambee house annex implying that the fraudsters may have visited other government offices that could have been involved in the fake tender.

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The DP wondered whether they may have gained access to Department of Defense, and if they did who facilitated them.

“ODP does NOT procure for any ministry/department. Question:other than 23min in Annex,for months,which government offices involved in the ‘tender’ did the scammers visit? Did they access DOD? Who facilitated? Who did they meet? Get the truth.Forget the sponsored NONSENSE in media” he posed.

ODP does NOT procure for any ministry/department. Question:other than 23min in Annex,for months,which government offices involved in the 'tender' did the scammers visit? Did they access DOD? Who facilitated? Who did they meet? Get the truth.Forget the sponsored NONSENSE in media

— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) February 16, 2020

But earlier, Dr. Ruto through a post on social media termed the allegations in a section of media dailies linking him to the fraudulent arms deal as a fictitious and desperate move by his political competitors to malign his reputation.

His statement came in the backdrop of a newspaper article which referred to the embattled ex-CS as his ally claiming that the DP’s office had become a ‘citadel for fake deals’.

Echesa is currently being detained at the Muthaiga Police Station after he was arraigned on Friday over an alleged fake military equipment scam.

He was however, released on a one million shillings bond but was ordered to remain in police custody until Monday at 6PM to allow investigators to complete their probe.

Senate Minority leader James Orengo has also weighed in on the matter and wants the Deputy President to come clean over the allegations that ex-CS Rashid Echesa brokered the fake deal at his Harambee House Annex offices.

Speaking in Busia County, Orengo said the allegations had painted DP’s office negatively. The Siaya Senator said the office of the Deputy President has become a crime scene, with people getting into the office masquerading as army generals.

“ The Deputy President needs to tell us what he knows about Echesa’s scandal in order for us to respect the position again. There is something he knows and he needs to lay it bare for the public to know…” he stated.