Dennis Itumbi arrested

Blogger-turned-Jubilee digital strategist, Dennis Itumbi, has been arrested.

Dennis Itumbi was arrested at Charlie's Bistro restaurant in Nairobi CBD, on Wednesday morning on suspicion of being part of a secret intrigue that drafted a fake letter alleging there is a plot to assassinate Deputy President William Ruto.

Dennis Itumbi was taken to DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road for questioning.

Last week, DCI detectives hinted that there is a high possibility that the Ruto assassination plot letter was fake.

Detectives and senior government officials believed that the letter purportedly written by a Cabinet Secretary to the President was part of political schemes and misinformation campaign whose ultimate aim was to draw sympathy.

“Nobody writes letters directly to the President, certainly no minister would write such a letter,” a senior State official told People Daily, explaining that correspondence to the Head of State is done through the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua. The latter would then forward those that the President should see for direction.

Most of the time, the interaction between the President and ministers is at Cabinet meetings, phone calls or appointments for one-on-one meetings. CSs are routinely summoned to State House for consultations with the Head of State, the source said.

Expectations that Ruto and the four CSs he has accused of convening talks to discuss his elimination could come face-to-face last Thursday, fizzled out when it turned out that there was no Cabinet meeting. Sources at State House said none had been scheduled.

Sources within the government said the onus was on Ruto to prove the assassination plot as well as the authenticity of the letter that was widely circulated in social media.

Government sources intimated that Ruto risked losing his clout in the government, especially with Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, his Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho and Kinyua increasingly taking charge of State operations.

“It will be interesting how he will come out of this mess. The recent visit by the President to his Uasin Gishu turf was a perfect opportunity for him to get back into the fold, but the assassination claims seem to have turned the tables on him again,” the source, who cannot be quoted due to the sensitivity of the matter, told People Daily.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji joined the fray when he said his office and that of the Director of Criminal Investigations had resolved to engage the services of an independent investigative agency to handle the case to avoid the two agencies being dismissed as biased.

It also emerged that Cabinet Secretaries Joe Mucheru (ICT), Sicily Kariuki (Health) and other leaders from Mt Kenya region, accused of plotting the DP’s assassination, met last week Tuesday to continue with their deliberations.

It is a similar meet-up at Hotel La Mada off Thika Road that became the centre of controversy after claims of the alleged assassination plot were publicised.

Trade CS Peter Munya, who had been implicated alongside his colleagues, confirmed the meeting took place and development issues were discussed.

More soon.