Conflicting information on Ruto's rural home attack

  • Deputy president William Ruto's home in Sugoi was attacked by unknown gunmen on July 31st July 2017.
  • One police officer was shot during the attack.

Kenyans are still in shock over the weekend attack on Deputy President William Ruto's Sugoi home. It is an occurrence that has baffled many considering the battalion of officers allocated to protect VIPs such as Mr Ruto. However, what baffles most is the consequent tirade of disconnected information streaming out to the public over the attack. One senior police officer is quoted as saying that "there are armed people who have staged an attack and shot a GSU officer and stolen his gun". A second source adds that security forces "are trying to establish if there are still attackers in the Deputy President's home."


These accounts are quite different from a statement issued by the Inspector General of Police hours later, which said that someone carrying a machete attacked a police officer guarding the entrance to the residence and then fled into the compound. It is a classic case of disharmony within the police unit and a flawed command where each officer has his version of what happened.