New details have emerged indicating that Deputy President William Ruto was blocked from making ‘a private’ visit to Uganda on Monday due to lack of security clearance from the President as prescribed in protocol.
The DP was set to travel on Monday and had already arrived at the airport when immigration officials barred him and his delegation from leaving the country.
Reports indicate that the State may have blocked his travel due to one of the members of his delegation; Turkish national Harun Aydin who was arrested in Germany in 2001 over terror links.
Aydin has been in the country on several occasions, and even accompanied Ruto to his previous Uganda and Zanzibar trips.
A part from the presence of Aydin on the trip, sources privy to the saga told a local daily that neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor Kenya’s High Commission in Uganda had been informed of the meeting.
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The sources further noted that the DP is Kenya’s second in command, therefore adequate security plans need to be made whenever he is travelling outside the country, to ensure that he is safe and all his needs are catered to while he is the foreign nation.
The office of the DP has, however, protested the “new rules” accusing the state of changing the rules in order to frustrate the DP.
According to the DP’s communication Secretary David Mugonyi, the DP has been making foreign trips before and had never been requested to get search clearance.
File image of Deputy President William Ruto. [Photo: Courtesy]
Mugonyi further noted that the trip was ‘a private’ visit and had been organized a long time ago following all the required processes governing his foreign trip.
The DP’s office expressed its disappointment at the blockage, noting that it was unfair and uncalled for the Deputy President to be held at Wilson airport for close to five hours seeking clearance to travel.
“We are surprised the Deputy President was denied clearance to go on a planned visit to Uganda. It’s our officers who always handle his travel and this time we were told he must get clearance from immigration to fly out. In all his travels these years, this has never happened,” Mugonyi told a local daily.
According to Mugonyi, the order to block the DP from travelling had been issued by the Ministry of Interior.
“He spoke to the Head of Public Service to enquire about the change of rules and the new requirements, but he said he was not aware. The immigration officials at the airport told us they were under instructions from the Ministry of Interior,” he added.
Disappointed by the incident, DP Ruto went back to his residence and tweeted “Isorait…Tumwachie Mungu”.
In addition to Aydin, other persons who were to travel with the DP include; Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi, his Kiharu counterpart Ndindi Nyoro, Eric Ruto, David Langat, Kinango MP Benjamin Tayari and Elijah Rono.
