DP Ruto, Kinoti, and politics of the bible

Should the Deputy President William Ruto-led Hustler Nation team win the August 9, General Election, one man who will remain in sharp focus is the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti.

For the two, only God and the love of the bible unites them. Outside of that, they are walking separate paths, with Dr Ruto determined to put a stop to Mr Kinoti’s tenure, should he win the August elections

The DP has been very consistent that the Mr Kinoti-led DCI has been set against him and his allies to undermine his presidential bid.

So central is Mr Kinoti in Dr Ruto’s plans that he, on March 15 when the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) National Delegates Convention made him their candidate, he vowed his first job will be to deal with the DCI. 

“On our first day in office, we will free the DCI… from the state capture…they have weaponized it alongside Kenya revenue Authority (KRA) and the Ethics and anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to run political errands,” the DP said.

This was a culmination of a series of brickbats against the DCI and its boss for the past four years where no single political rally Dr Ruto holds, Mr Kinoti escapes scathing attack hence leaving little to doubt that a ‘Hustlers’ government’ wouldn’t think twice before tossing him under the bus.

And Mr Kinoti who President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed to office on January 5, 2018 to succeed Mr Ndegwa Muhoro who had retired, perfectly acknowledges that he is facing a defining moment in the succession politics being played.

A DCI boss serves for a six-year term with security of tenure hence under normal circumstances keeping Mr Kinoti in office up to January 5, 2023.

With Dr Ruto saying his first day in office (should he win) will start with reforming Mr Kinoti's office, fears are that he might be forced to resign before term and another head appointed.

For the past two years, Mr Kinoti has taken a lot of beating from the Hustler Nation that accuses him of being weaponized by the system to persecute those who have refused to conform to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s rule.

 Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua accuses Mr Kinoti of failing to understand that he was appointed the chief sleuth to defend the constitution and not a wing of the political class.

 “Mr Kinoti has seriously failed to know that his office is not that of a youth winger. He has been reduced to waging political warfare where he is unleashed to those who have refused to be tethered to a conformist wing of being state apologists,” he said.

 In his arguably the worst twist in his career in the hands of the Judiciary, Mr Kinoti was on November 18 last year committed to four months imprisonment without an option of a fine for contempt of court.

The nightmare was resultant of a case by presidential hopeful on the Safina Party Jimmi Wanjigi, now Dr Ruto’s political ally, who had complained to the court that the DCI chief had refused to surrender to him firearms and ammunition that had been confiscated from his possession in 2017 on suspicions that they were illegally in his hands.

 In his ruling, High Court judge Anthony Mrima had directed Mr Kinoti to surrender himself to a prison of his choice within seven days failure to which “the Inspector General of Police affects a warrant of arrest against the chief detective, an order valid to be executed at any time including when he leaves office.”

 The sentence has since been suspended by the Court of Appeal pending the determination of his counter defense as to why it was not possible for him to comply with the orders to rearm Mr Wanjigi.

As the stalemate persisted, on January 19, a bitter Wanjigi accused Mr Kinoti of being a poodle following his masters orders to harass him for his political affiliations.

It is important to note that Mr Wanjigi has since united with the UDA to form Kenya Kwanza Alliance that has Dr Ruto as the presidential flag bearer.

When the political arena is notorious of drawing tribe to defend a tribesman during times of upheavals, even some of his politicians from his backyard have joined the bandwagon of hammering him.

“Mr Kinoti is just a politician in uniform…He is being used by the state to limit my Meru County gubernatorial bid,” Meru senator Mithika Linturi said on February 28 as he launched his contest at Maili Tatu Stadium.

He warned him that “you might not be in that office by close of this year…He won’t be there. He must understand that he has a life after that office.”  

Born in 1967 now a father of three, the Fifth president will find him being 55 years old—some five years to retirement. His childhood dream was to become a Catholic priest but he ended up being a police officer who to date claims that he has been shot at 35 times by the bade boys—including the May 13, 2005 incident where he claims thugs shot him in the stomach 28 times and he survived.

But he is unbowed by politics, he says, adding that he is ready for any eventuality. 

He says he is waiting for that succession in prayer and supplication that regardless what; his defence remains truth to God, motherland and her people.

Most of his juniors use words like “hands on, loyal to appointing authority, perfectionist, humane, prayerful, independent, bold, smart…” to describe him.   

Mr Kinoti says his present is so far so good.

“The Head of State chose me from nowhere...A boy from nowhere…he gave me an opportunity to serve Kenyans. The assignment I was given was not a simple one, that was in agreement all along,” he said during a memorial service for his parents in law in Kiamwingo village, Meru County, last week.
The function was attended by Meru leaders allied to the candidacy of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader, Raila Odinga.
 
He said he relies on his spiritual belief that is founded in Christianity, and difficulties and persecutions will serve no means or end to cow him.
 “
…do not cry for me…do not. The God and the people that I serve know no boundaries in sustaining me. I am ready to take all the flaks on behalf of my country and Kenyans,” he said.
 
He said the things that are happening in the country (electioneering period)… “but because of your prayers, steadfast prayers…God has overwhelmed me and there is one thing that I have said…I better go any way but remain faithful to Kenyans.”

He urged those who share his dream of patriotism to continue praying for him as he faces his adversities in an environment where “greed has taken the centre stage to an extent where some of us are cheating the very people we were tasked to serve.”

He said for politicians, cheating the publics is very easy “but there is one day that you will have to account to God for the time you were given to serve the people…a time to recount and account for the period you were given.”

Mr Kinoti said whatever the August 9 2022 outcome, “my conscience is clean and my script both before Almighty God and my fellow Kenyans is unblemished.”

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