Fresh details on Deputy President William Ruto shuttle diplomacy

By GEOFFREY MOSOKU

The shuttle diplomacy tours by Deputy President William Ruto in May this year had nothing to do with the ICC, the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) was told yesterday.

A senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs officer told legislators, that contrary to the widely held assumption, the agenda of Ruto’s visits to four African countries was the  insecurity in Somalia, which has also affected Kenya’s internal security.

Richard Lemoshira, an assistant director for political and diplomatic affairs in the ministry, said that the Deputy President was lobbying the Central and West African country’s to push Kenya’s initiative to address the Somalia security question. 

Lemoshira was, however, taken to task by the committee to explain the rationale of picking the delegation that accompanied Ruto, given that none of them was a security expert.

The matter was raised by Suna East MP Junet Mohamed who sought clarification on the nature of the trip.

Mr Lemoshira had told the committee that he only attended the DP’s talks with Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan.

The others were only courtesy sessions. He was tasked to explain how the countries of Gabon, Nigeria, Algeria, Togo and Congo Brazzaville were connected to the Somali question and not EAC states.

The committee chaired by Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba is probing the circumstances behind the acquisition of the aircraft that took the DP to the four African countries and the amount spent on the trip.

“Can you go on record that the ICC matters were never discussed during the trip by the Deputy President? And if it was about Somalia why didn’t you engage the countries within the region because it is a regional issue?” Junet posed.