Stop drama, Ruto tells Kinoti amid Kipyegon Kenei probe

Deputy President William Ruto has once again asked police to find and bring to book Sergeant Kipyegon Kenei's killers.

Mr Ruto, whose office and staff are at the centre of the investigations, wants Kenya’s chief crime buster George Kinoti to stop the “drama” and bring out “the truth”.

“The truth must be found on why, how and who killed Sgt Kenei,” Dr Ruto tweeted on Friday morning.

“The family, ODP (Office of Deputy President) and Kenyans want the truth and justice and culprits held to account. The drama, distortions, convenient half-truths and smear campaigns in sponsored headlines amount to a criminal cover-up.”

Dr Ruto’s comments came hours after Mr Kinoti took to the media to give a blow-by-blow account of Mr Kenei’s last moments at the Harambee House Annex, the Deputy President’s office.

The details revolve around the secret meeting that former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa and his guests in the fake Sh40 billion arms deal held at Mr Ruto’s office.

The detectives also gave a timeline of events leading to the silencing of the man whose statement was key to the ongoing probe into the arms deal that sucked in Defence Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma.

KENEI'S ROLE

DCI Kinoti revealed the role that Kenei played in the deal, which investigators believe led to his murder as he had been preparing to record a statement with the DCI when he was executed.

When the scandal first made headlines, DP Ruto said Mr Echesa visited the Harambee House Annex for only 23 minutes.

However, CCTV footage recovered by the DCI tells a different story.

Mr Kinoti shared an 82-minute video of the visit that involves Mr Echesa and his co-accused meeting two foreigners at the DP's office.

Kenei was spotted guiding into the VIP lift one of the suspects, who had posed as a Kenyan military general during negotiations with the foreign arms dealers.

He was on phone as they exited the lift on the second floor. He later handed the phone to Daniel Otieno Omondi, aka General Juma, suggesting the person on the other end of the line discussed a matter known to the two.

MOVEMENTS

Noteworthy is that the General used the backdoor to access DP Ruto's office before using the VIP reception.

Moments later, Mr Echesa and the two foreigners are seen approaching the annex through the front gate and then the VIP reception before joining Kenei and the General on the second floor the building.

After the meeting, Mr Echesa and the two foreigners leave the second floor and proceed to the VIP reception and then get out of the building.

Kenei and the General leave the second floor and head to the VIP reception and then exit through the back door.

The General had his car parked on the back side of the annex (KU Parking).

DCI SUMMONSES

On February 18, Mr Kinoti said all officers who were on duty at the ODP on February 13 were summoned to the DCI's headquarters for interviews and statement recording on the events that took place there.

When they were asked to present themselves at the headquarters the following day, only Kenei and another officer said to have been bereaved did not show up.

When Kenei failed to report to work, his superiors neither tried to reach him nor visited his house.

Two days later, he was found dead inside the house in Imara Daima, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Initial reports indicated that he died by suicide but both his family and the DCI have refuted this.