From left: former President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo and President William Ruto.
Sometime in April 2015, former Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo received a call from then deputy President William Ruto. It wasn’t unusual to receive such calls from his bosses especially during his tenure as police chief: he had left in December 2014 after two years.
Dr Ruto had just returned from a trip abroad just a few days before he made this call. The reason for the call was then President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visit to Rift valley, and specifically, being hosted by Kimaiyo at his rural home in Kamendi, Cherangany East, in Trans Nzoia County two days earlier.
The deputy president was not amused.
At the time, the fallout between the President and his deputy, although it had not got out of hand, was a not a secret. It’s only after their controversial re-election in 2017 and President Kenyatta’s truce with opposition leader Raila Odinga that the estranged deputy president would mount a public campaign to express his frustration at being sidelined from government.
It’s against the background of simmering political estrangement that any move by the president to tour the Rift valley, which was considered the DP’s turf, in his absence would concern him.
But Kimaiyo did not see any problem with hosting the president at his home. He says Mr Kenyatta was a longtime friend and now that he (Kimaiyo) had served under him as the IG, it was a privilege to host him at his home.
Mr Kimaiyo says the deputy president had also visited him at the same home sometime back.
Political deals 'cut at Kimaiyo's home'
Former Water CS Eugene Wamalwa.
It is probably the low-key entry of the President at Kimaiyo’s home that may have raised eyebrows with the DP. And his concerns weren’t entirely misplaced, given past political deals reportedly cut at the place.
It is at Kimaiyo’s home that President Kenyatta had held talks with Mr Eugene Wamalwa, who also hails from this region, prior to appointing him to Cabinet.
On April 17, 2015, after the visit to Kimaiyo’s home for the meeting, Mr Wamalwa would later land the Cabinet appointment. He was initially named Cabinet Secretary in the newly created ministry of Water and Irrigation.
All this appears to have happened without the knowledge of the deputy president.
And as soon as Ruto got wind of the president’s latest visit to the home of Kimaiyo, in his absence, he wasn’t amused. A furious Ruto called Kimaiyo and demanded an explanation.
“He (Ruto) wanted to know who had brought the President to Rift Valley without him. I informed him that the president had come on his own to attend a church function,” the former IG recalled during an interview with the Nation at his rural home last month.
Ruto pressed further to a point Kimaiyo was confused over how to deal with the prodding questions by his boss. In the end, the DP hang up after the brief explanation.
Wamlawa confirms meeting
Mr Wamalwa confirmed the meeting with then President Kenyatta at Mr Kimaiyo’s home, but explains that his Cabinet appointment had been on the cards long before that.
"My appointment into government had nothing to do with that but I can confirm that indeed we visited the former IG," Wamalwa told Nation this week.
Another senior official close to Dr Ruto and Mr Kimaiyo, who was privy to the happenings at the time, also confirmed the meeting. But the top official explained Mr Kimaiyo had first reached out to the deputy president and invited him to a harambee for a church.
But since the DP was not available at the time, the official said, Mr Kimaiyo then reached out to president.
Mr Kimaiyo says this was just one of the instances when he disagreed with his bosses while in office.
He calls it a test of loyalty versus professionalism.
“On several times I had to say no to my bosses. There is a difference between being loyal and operating professionally, “ Kimaiyo adds.
Kimaiyo says attempts by the ruling elite to micro manage the IG is one of the major headaches that the office holder normally faces.
Kimaiyo's advice to IG nominee Kanja
Inspector-General of Police nominee Douglas Kanja.
He says many times powerful government officials do not seem to recognise the IG as a professional police officer, but rather view the police chief as a political representative of the areas they come from.
And as Kimaiyo held this interview last Thursday, news that President Ruto had picked Mr Douglas Kanja as his next candidate for IG broke.
Kimaiyo took the opportunity to throw a word of caution to the incoming IG if he is cleared to be the next police chief, saying interference from politicians was a major challenge during his tenure.
"It is up-bottom sort of interference. Even junior people who are close to the presidency want to call the IG and issue instructions," Kimaiyo says.
Kimaiyo insists that he was still very close to retired President Kenyatta who kicked him out of office.
And “to set the record straight,” Kimaiyo insists that he was not forced to resign.
"I voluntarily retired from office under the 50-year rule. I had completed my term."
Burning mattresses fiasco
Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku (left) with the Nairobi Governor Dr Evans Kidero outside Westgate Mall on September 21, 2013.
At the time of his exit, the country had witnessed a series of terror attacks including Westgate.
At the time, there was public uproar over the manner in which the IG and then Interior CS Joseph Ole Lenku had dealt with the Westgate attack in which Al-Shabaab gunmen killed 68 people.
Kimaiyo and Lenku endured public ridicule and online trolling, especially after the CS’s statement that the thick smoke seen rising from the besieged mall was as a result of terrorists burning mattresses.
President Kenyatta fired the two soon after.
Kajiado Central MP Joseph Nkaiserry was named the new Interior CS, just moments after Kimaiyo announced his retirement from the Kenya Police service. Kimaiyo cited personal reasons for the decision.
The President, in a live broadcast, said he had accepted Kimaiyo’s retirement and thanked him for his service.
Kimaiyo’s parting shot and message to the new IG as he prepares to assume office, if cleared by Parliament, is to always be wary of politicians who will seek to control him.
"The IGs have never been allowed to operate independently," says Kimaiyo.
“If people can stop interfering with the independence of the IG, then they will deliver on their mandate."
