Ruto off to South Africa for further treatment

Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto was on Tuesday scheduled to be flown out to South Africa for further treatment following an injury he sustained during a melee on Sunday.

Mr Ruto, who was flown to Nairobi on Monday for treatment, insisted that the injury was inflicted by a teargas canister lobbed by police officers who were dispersing a crowd at Silibwet Stadium in Bomet.

However, police said the governor was hit by a stone during the fracas. He has been receiving treatment at Nairobi Hospital and his aides said on Tuesday that scans done on his head had revealed that his cheekbone was fractured.

“The governor has been nose bleeding since the day he was injured and he keeps complaining of severe pains both in his right eye and the cheek and so we have to get further treatment for him,” Bomet County Director of Communications Kiprotich Samoei said.

SUSTAINED INJURIES

Mr Samoei said the flight itinerary for the governor, a family member and a doctor had been scheduled and that they would leave at 9 pm Tuesday.

“We are concerned about the nose bleeding and we suspect he sustained injuries that may need corrective surgery but that will be confirmed by the doctors, “ Mr Samoei said.

On Tuesday, several leaders among them Kanu chair Gideon Moi and Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter visited the governor in hospital. The Council of Governors, the opposition and other leaders have criticised the attack.

But National Assembly Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso said that the governor was attacked by angry residents and not police officers. She said Mr Ruto was attacked when he and his ‘goons’ stormed a meeting convened by Jubilee Women MPs with an aim of causing disruption.

“Mr Ruto should blame himself for being attacked by the public,” she said, adding he was not invited to the function.

Additional reporting by Linet Wafula