Kenya’s deputy president admits ‘scammers’ visited his office

Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto has admitted that “scammers” visited his office, known as Harambee House Annex.

“Other than 23 [minutes] in Annex,” Mr Ruto tweeted, “which government offices involved in the ‘tender’ did the scammers visit?”

He added that the focus on his office was “sponsored nonsense in the media”, and insisted that his office did not procure arms for the government.

But Kenyan media say this latest tweet appears to be an admission that former Sports Minister Rashid Echesa, who is facing charges of being involved in an illegal arms deal, used Mr Ruto’s office to conduct his business.

In a previous tweet, Mr Ruto has referred to Mr Echesa and others as “fraudsters”, in relation to reports about these same allegations that Mr Echesa used Harambee House Annex for meetings.

Mr Ruto, whose office was raided by investigators over the weekend, said he never met the former minister and the business people he visited with, and was not involved in the alleged deal reportedly worth 40bn Kenyan shillings ($397m; £304m).

Mr Echesa has also denied the allegations.

The former sports minister was fired by President Uhuru Kenyatta in March 2019 for undisclosed reasons.

He told the Daily Nation newspaper at the time that he wasn’t told why he was being fired, but he believed his unwavering support for Mr Ruto was to blame.

BBC