Police did not attack Governor Isaac Ruto County Commissioner

Bomet County Commissioner Benard Lebarmarai has accused Governor Isaac Ruto of insincerity in claims he was attacked by police on Sunday.

Ruto alleges that an administration police officer lobbed a teargas canister at him while dispersing a crowd after a confrontation between him and the police at Silibwet Stadium in Bomet.

The county’s Director of Communication Kiprotich Samoei had earlier sent a circular to newsrooms, indicating that officers intentionally targeted Ruto.

“A police officer in uniform made to hit him with a stick but the governor’s security thwarted the move just in time. Around ten or more police officers retreated and lobbed tear gas canisters directly at the governor in quick succession. One canister hit him below his right eye in the melee,” read the press release.

The county commissioner countered these claims, saying officers acted professionally to control a surging crowd that wanted to disrupt the friendly match between Silibwet FC and Bunge FC.

He rubbished the governor’s claims saying, it was impossible to get hit by a canister shot from a riot gun and not sustain serious injuries.

“The teargas canister is fired and if it bursts on your face… it will cause a lot of damage, whether it explodes or not,” he said.

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He further accused governor Ruto of intruding into the function with ‘hooligans’ with an intention of disrupting the proceedings.

“The police were there because we had information that he was organizing hooligans, and that is his tradition,” said the county commissioner.

The governor says he was called by a section of his Mashinani Party supporters while he was in church after some were arrested and that he was only there to appeal their release.

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In the scuffle that ensued, Ruto sustained an injury below his left eye, and he was whisked off the scene by his security before being flown to Nairobi for treatment.

“If he was injured when he fell down or by the stones that were being thrown, that is another story,” Lebarmarai added.