KSh40B tender scam: Ruto under pressure after admitting Echesa held meetings at his office

Deputy President William Ruto has admitted “scammers” visited his Harambee House Annex office but went ahead to question which other government office ex-sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa visited in the course of executing his KSh40 billion military tender scandal.

Ruto took to Twitter, the social media network she has used to respond to the matter since his name was drawn into it, where he has described media reports linking him to the deal as “media nonsense”.

Critics of the DP’s now say Ruto cannot feign ignorance or claim innocence because by admission of the “23 minutes” meeting at his office is enough evidence that he was aware of what Echesa’s dealings were all about and must have allowed the sacked CS to use his office to conduct the business.

Kitui governor – Charity Ngilu, now wants Ruto to step aside for putting the “presidency to shame”.

“The Deputy President’s office is part of the Presidency, which 47 million Kenyans have entrusted with high responsibilities and especially in ensuring security of citizens and their property,” Ngilu said in a statement.

“The holder of this office, therefore, is expected to be beyond reproach.”

Former Nominated Senator – Paul Njoroge Ben, has also questioned how the DP can feign ignorance of the deal yet the meetings were held in his office.

“How can someone access such a highly-secured office and hold a meeting with people without the knowledge of the Deputy President,” he posed.

In previous tweets, the DP had referred to Echesa and others as “fraudsters” in relation to reports about these same allegations that Echesa used Harambee House Annex for meetings.

Ruto, whose office was raided by investigators over the weekend, said he never met the former CS and the business people he visited with, and was not involved in the alleged deal.

Echesa has also denied the allegations.

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

He believed that his unwavering support for DP Ruto was to blame for his sacking.