Ruto now reveals the accusations against him

Ruto now reveals the accusations against him

Suspended Minister for Higher Education William Ruto has sensationally opened up on the accusations against him, now in the hands of ICC Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

In what reads like "My case: My defence", the Eldoret North MP, lifts the lid on the alleged issues levelled against him, including what he believes is deliberate framing to pin him down.

The bits and pieces assembled over the time, since Mr Ruto returned from The Hague, include the allegation that he supplied 3,000 guns and a pick-up full of gas cylinders that was used to kill people and burn houses. According to Ruto, he is said to have armed over 10,000 people to massacre people in the country.

Ruto also adds that he is alleged to have hired the services of Kalenjin retired army generals and stationed them in various places in Rift Valley to carry out systematic violence.

The plan, he adds, was allegedly sealed during his crowning as a Kalenjin elder in an elaborate event held in Eldoret in the run-up to the 2007 General Election.

Speaking on vernacular radio station on Friday, Ruto also revealed that the Kalenjin community empowerment organisation, EMO, has been sucked into the saga as the engine behind the violence.

EMO Foundation is a self-help group engaged in development activities. Ruto also said another meeting he held at his Sugoi home in Eldoret prior to the General Election is alleged to have further schemed the violence.

The MP said he convened the meeting to seek the community’s views on who to support for the presidency prior to the 2007 polls.

The MP also hints that he may be a target for spearheading calls for "mass action" that led to the killing of many people in Rift Valley. He says was never party to resolutions that led to ODM calling for mass action to protest the flawed 2007 polls.

"I never called for mass action. The ODM leaders who did that are known and it is unfair for anyone to shift all the blame on me," said Ruto.

State house bid

He added: "They had two reports and in the second report the names of some individuals were removed. They should tell us who removed those names and why."

He said the people who were intending to use Ocampo to get rid of him and clear their way to State House were doomed to fail. "They think they have paved their way to State House. But we are telling them they are wrong," he said.

Ruto returned from The Hague last week where he met International Criminal Court prosecutors to "put the record straight".

In early October, two ODM MPs and close Ruto allies claimed the party’s top leadership organ –The Pentagon- was to blame for the violence that rocked the country.

The Pentagon team that has since been disbanded included ODM party leader Raila Odinga, Ruto, Musalia Mudavadi, Najib Balala, Joseph Nyagah and later Charity Ngilu.

—Reports by Vincent Bartoo, Karanja Njoroge and Titus Too