Deputy President William Ruto was yesterday evening blocked at the airport from travelling to Uganda.
According to DP’s office, Ruto was scheduled to make a private visit to Entebbe but was told to first seek clearance from the Head of public Service.
The DP’s Communication Secretary David Mugonyi said Ruto and his team arrived at Wilson Airport, all set for his second trip to Uganda but he could not be cleared for take off.
“We’re surprised the Deputy President was denied clearance to go on a planned private visit to Uganda. It’s our officers who always handle his travels, all these years, this has not happened,” said Mugonyi.
“He was told that he had to first seek clearance from the head of public service, when he called Joseph Kinyua, he said he wasn’t aware of such a directive.”
Ruto was scheduled to travel with MPs Oscar Sudi (Kapsaret), Benjamin Tayari (Kinango) and Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu).
Others included Harun Aydin, Dr David Langat Bett, Dr Eric Ruto and Elijah Rono.
In his twitter account, Ruto tweeted,” It’s alright… tumwachie Mungu.”
Former Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen linked Ruto’s woes to the recent Kiambaa by-election in which the Jubilee candidate lost to United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
Murkomen claimed President Uhuru Kenyatta was punishing his deputy because of the recent by-election loss.
“President has blocked the DP from performing his official duties and now he is blocking him from his private engagements this is a ridiculous show of deep sense of insecurity and tactlessness,” he tweeted.
Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi said they were blocked for five hours at Wilson Airport until the DP became impatient and went home.
“Our flight was scheduled for midday, but the so-called Deep State failed to clear the DP for the trip,” Sudi wrote on his social media pages, adding that the MPs who were to accompany the DP had been cleared by National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi.
Nyoro said Speaker Muturi intervened for the Mps but the DP couldn’t get the clearance.
“I’ve never seen the kind of embarrasment we were subjected to embarrassment we were subjected to yesterday. The immigration officials told us we had needed clearance before we could leave the country. The Speaker Justin Muturi intervened for us, the MPs, but DP couldn’t get the clearance,” said Nyoro.
In July, Ruto, with his delegation, visited the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank and was hosted by Uganda’s Agriculture Minister Frank Tumwebaze.
He was the Chief guest at the laying of the foundation stone for a Biological Drugs and mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility at Matuga-Wakiso District at the invitation of President Museveni.
In his address, Ruto said Kenya was keen on building partnerships with other African countries in a bid to steer the continent towards the restructuring of its market to focus more on upstream production.
“This new commitment to buying locally manufactured vaccine doses at large-scale will ease African countries’ import bill, enhance their export earnings and sustainably boost the ordinary people’s health status,” Ruto stated.
Later in the day, Ruto presided over the groundbreaking ceremony of the William Ruto Institute of African studies building at Makerere University.
Ruto has been a constant visitor to Uganda.
In December 2019, Ruto was hosted by Museveni at his Nakasero State House but it was not clear what they discussed in the three-hour meeting where the DP was accompanied by his political lieutenants.
