Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has claimed that President William Ruto used National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula to coerce him into accepting the Attorney General position after he had turned down the offer.

Speaking on Friday, April 4, 2025, during an interview with one of the local radio stations, Muturi said that Ruto sent Wetang’ula to plead with him to accept the job offer, since they have been friends for a long time.

However, Muturi claims that he told Wetang’ula when they met at a hotel in Karen, Nairobi, that he had already informed the head of state about his position, but the Ford Kenya party leader still insisted.

“When he offered me the position of the Attorney General, I turned it down, and I told him that I had been a speaker for 10 years, which involved too much reading because a speaker has to read through every committee report to approve it for tabling.

“I told him that I just want to be in the Cabinet in whatever ministry I did not choose. We left it at that, and two to three days later, my friend who had just become speaker succeeding me, Moses Masika Wetang’ula, called me, and we met somewhere in Karen, in some hotel one evening, and he told me that, you know, I had been sent by the president to plead with you to accept the position of the Attorney General,” Muturi said.

Reason for sending Wetang’ula

He went ahead to argue that Wetang’ula had been urged by Ruto to plead with him as a friend, classmate, and roommate, but he had informed him that he feared taking up a job where he would not be able to exercise his freedom to interpret the law as he best knows.

According to Muturi, Ruto would again call him to State House about three days after his meeting with Wetang’ula, where they held a meeting with other Cabinet colleagues to be, but the first in command still insisted to see him after the general meeting was done.

Muturi’s reservation on AG job

It was during his second meeting with Ruto that he informed him the real reason as to why he was reluctant to take up the AG job.

“I told Moses that I had already told him, but he insisted that the president had told me to come and plead with you as a friend, classmate, and roommate, because Moses and I have come a long way. I told him that my reservation is one: I just fear taking up a job where I will not be able to exercise my freedom to interpret the law as I best know how, but I did not tell him to go and tell him (Ruto) that. A day or two later, William calls me and tells me that he was at the State House and was eager to announce his cabinet,” he said.

“So we have some general meetings with some other later Cabinet colleagues, and then as we finish, he tells me, JB, I have not finished with you. So we go to the office, and we sit down for another cup of tea, and he tells me, I am pleading with you to take up the job of the attorney general. I tell him that I had already told him my reasons.

“He told me I have so many lawyer friends, but I have decided it is you. This is when I decided to tell him the truth, that you know me to be astute to the law, and when I take up this job and perhaps you want to do things in a particular way that the law does not allow, then I will have problems, and that is why I am actually reluctant to take up this job. He told me, JB, that is the reason I want you to take up the job.”

Ruto had earlier claimed that Muturi had turned down the job offer for having stayed away for too long without practicing the law.