Raila key witness in Ruto’s death threats against Mutua – Weekly Citizen

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has agreed to be the key prosecution witness in the case where Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has accused Deputy President William Ruto of threatening to kill him.

According to detectives probing the matter, Mutua consulted Raila to be his witness before he proceeded to Kilimani Police Station to record a statement.

Raila agreed to be the witness since he was at the scene when Ruto made the threats at State House, Nairobi.

In his statement to police, Mutua says on the evening of Wednesday December 11, 2019, he was a guest at State House for a banquet in honour of the Barbados Prime Minister Mia Motley.

Mutua

He adds that he was standing in conversation with Raila and other leaders when an identified person came to speak to the ODM leader.

The governor says as he turned to go and speak to another leader, he came face to face with the Deputy President and extended his hand to greet him.

Mutua says Ruto grabbed and held on to his hand and told him “you fellow, you have been attacking me very much…I must now crush you…I will crush you.”

He adds that Raila, who was at the scene, heard Ruto utter the threatening words.

According to detectives, Raila is ready to corroborate Mutua’s statements and is only waiting to be summoned to record a statement.

The governor states that he informed Raila as well as four other senior government officials present at the event about the threats because he believes Ruto is serious and capable of carrying out his threat to his life and general welfare.

In his statement, Mutua says the threats on his life were as a result of his interest in the 2022 presidential race.

The governor has also accused the Deputy President’s allies of repeating the threats at a separate function two weeks later.

In his statement he states that on Monday November 25, 2019, as the party leader Maendeleo Chap Chap, he was at State House to witness President Uhuru Kenyatta receive the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report.

Raila

While waiting for the function to start, he was conversing with fellow leaders and politely greeted the Leader of the Majority in the National Assembly, Aden Duale who was engaged in a conversation with Leader of Majority in the Senate, Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen.

He says they told him he had a habit of attacking them and when he asked them how they told him they will teach him a lesson because he has been attacking the Deputy President.

The Machakos County boss further claimed that Duale, who also doubles up as the Garissa Township Member of Parliament, told him that there are over 50,000 Kambas in his constituency and he can deal with them as a way to punish him.

Mutua says that after discussing Ruto’s threat with his friends and family he came to a conclusion that he should not take the threats lightly, but to report him to the authorities.

“I have to speak out, so that if anything happens to me, my family would know where to start from… I saw the way he looked at me, the tone of his voice…. and looking at the history of Kenya, he has powers to pull anything, because i don’t know what he meant by saying he will crash me, because crashing someone is destroying them completely,” he said.

But Murkomen has dismissed the claims by.

In a quick rejoinder, Duale and Murkomen termed the claims by Mutua as Vipindiree (theatrics), adding that the Machakos Governor was trying to seek attention through the outrageous allegations.

“Mr. Mutua is writing another episode of his cobra squad series. Having failed spectacularly as a leader he turned himself into a Joseph Goebbels of his county government. He is of no consequence to anyone to deserve any attention let alone threats. Let’s just watch the cinematic vipindiree,” said Murkomen in a tweet.

On his part, Duale said: “Governor Alfred Mutua is at it again seeking attention with the most fictitious allegations that can only fit in his failed Cobra Squad TV show. You will not gain relevance by shouting the names of leaders who have achieved more than he can ever do. Focus on Machakos, Mutua.”

“The truth is, attention seekers are looking for validation. They want to know they are worthy. “You can’t use our names to increase your dwindling political shares in the village. We play a different league. Wacha vindiyo, cinema na vipenderee,” added Duale.

The Deputy President has not responded to Mutua’s allegations.