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The fate of several heads of security agencies hangs in the balance after President-Elect William Ruto embarks on forming his government once he is sworn in on Tuesday.

Although he has promised that there will be no room for vengeance, some of the top security chiefs are not sitting pretty due to the frosty relationship they have had in the past with the incoming President.

“There is no room for vengeance, there is no room for looking back, we are looking into the future,” Ruto said on the day the electoral commission declared him the winner of the August 9 presidential election and the Supreme Court upheld the declaration. “I am acutely aware that our country is at a stage where we need all hands on deck to move it forward. We do not have the luxury to look back”.

Heightened lobbying

Already, sources indicate that some of the senior officers who had been relegated to the periphery have heightened lobbying as they seek to return to the centre, further causing anxiety among their colleagues.

As head of State, Ruto will be chairing the National Security Council (NSC), a body established under Article 240 of the Constitution, to exercise supervisory control over national security organs.

The council consists of Cabinet Secretaries for Defence, Foreign Affairs as well as Interior, the Chief of Defence Forces, the Director-General of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the Inspector-General of Police.

As Deputy President, Ruto had on several occasions accused the heads of various agencies — especially the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Kenya Revenue Authority, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and NIS among others —of being partisan and unfairly targeting his supporters.

Whereas he promised to give them a free hand if he wins, it is not clear if the top bosses will remain in office, will be shuffled or asked to leave in the new dispensation.

“On our first day, we will free the DCI and the KRA from State capture. They have weaponised DCI, EACC and KRA to run political errands. We will professionalise the DCI’s office and the KRA for them to discharge their constitutional and legal duties,” Ruto had said during his campaign rallies.

The Inspector-General of Police, Hillary Mutyambai, who is expected to leave office in April, is one of the top officers who have been targeted for criticism by the President-elect.

On June 30, Ruto told delegates from the International Republic Institute and National Democratic Institute that they did not have faith in the police service and questioned Mutyambai’s competence.

“We do not doubt the capacity of the police to handle the situation, we doubt the command,” Ruto said at the time. “We have the most incompetent IG in the whole world and that’s the problem. His incompetence doesn’t play out when things are working but when there is a decision-making issue, he cannot make a decision as he lacks the capacity”.

Although the IG is appointed by the President, he exercises independent command of the service. As a rule, an IG serves for a five-year renewable term.

DCI boss George Kinoti has also been on the receiving end of Ruto’s criticism.

On December 1, 2020, during the funeral mass of the mother of Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri, Ruto hit out at Kinoti, alleging that he was being used to abet ethnic tensions in the Rift Valley.

“The abuse of criminal investigation and criminal prosecution targeting people because of their tribe or their political affiliation is the wrong thing to do. It is worse if criminal investigations and prosecutions are used to incite ethnic hate and tribalism in our nation,” Ruto said.

During the burial of AP Sergeant Arnold Kipyegon Kenei, Ruto claimed that the officer was killed with the intention of undermining his office for political reasons.

“I am aware there is a huge scheme to demean and destroy my office. The DCI has been mobilised, for political reasons, to discredit and destroy my office with all manner of nonsense and to bring me down,” he said.

The Vice-Chief of Defence Forces Lieutenant-General Francis Ogolla may not also find himself comfortable after Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati alleged that the second topmost military officer in the country was o  among members of the National Security Advisory Committee who visited him at Bomas of Kenya during the tallying of the presidential election votes to push the electoral body to twist the presidential results in favour of Ruto’s main challenger, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Head of the Public Service Joseph Kinyua denied claims that some members of the committee attempted to influence the poll outcome. Chebukati stated that other members in the NSAC delegations were Kennedy Kihara, a Principal Administrative Secretary at the office of the President, Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto and Mutyambai

Intelligence information

Ruto has also had issues with NIS. He has however not directed his attacks at its  Director-General, Philip Kameru.

On June 8, for example, through UDA’s lawyer, his party wrote a complaint to NIS over remarks made by Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, who had claimed that an intelligence report had projected a victory for Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga.

Ruto termed as reckless the use of intelligence reports, and sought a clarification from the NIS boss on whether he authorised and, or allowed the release of NIS reports or polling information.

“What remedial measures were taken by the National Intelligence Service in light of the outright breach and abuse of its core mandate given the risk posed by the reckless use of intelligence information to the peace and security of the nation?” UDA asked.

UDA further threatened legal action if the NIS boss failed to respond by giving a response to the concerns raised. The party also said that it would file a motion to have the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji investigate and charge the people involved in the intelligence leakage or misuse of the same for propaganda.

During his campaigns, Ruto committed to de-politicise and de-weaponise the criminal justice system in the fight against corruption. The plan is also contained in the Kenya Kwanza manifesto.

“I will be allowing the relevant institutions to freely exercise the independence given to them by the Constitution,” he said.

According to the Constitution, the national security organs are not expected to act in a partisan manner, advance any interest of a political party, or prejudice a political interest or political cause that is legitimate.