Police are interrogating three people following an incident where a man hurled a shoe at President William Ruto in Kuria West, Migori County.
The incident happened as Ruto addressed
residents of the Kehancha area on Sunday.
Police said investigations are ongoing and that more suspects are being pursued.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the three are being treated as part of a broader investigation on whether the act was an isolated outburst or part of a more deliberate attempt to breach presidential security.
Preliminary findings suggest the incident may
have been politically motivated and premeditated before the
President’s visit.
The incident briefly disrupted the event, which occurred while the President was on his tour of Migori.
A short five-second video captures the moment
when a person from the crowd listening to Ruto as he addressed the public
hurled a shoe, hitting him on the head.
The president blocked the shoe as it landed on him.
Security officers tasked with protecting the president quickly rushed to the stage, and the meeting was disrupted for a few minutes.
The security team pushed the crowd away from near the dais even as the president told them to stop it.
It was difficult to establish who had hurled the shoe at that moment.
The motive of the incident is yet to be determined.
Detectives swung into action immediately after
the shoe was hurled as the president stopped talking briefly.
Ruto was on a small mounted dais surrounded by a large crowd when the incident happened.
His security, mainly drawn from the General Service Unit (GSU), formed a barrier around him.
But since he was on a raised podium, his guards were level on the ground with the crowd to control them and stop them from reaching the president.
The president, who was in Migori County for a three-day working tour, was forced to cut short his speech briefly as he was speaking about lowering the cost of living.
He had launched and commissioned several
projects.
Before the bizarre incident, there were several pointers that his safety was likely to be compromised, besides the fact that his platform was fairly close to the residents.
There had been a push and pull from the crowd.
The security personnel, who were several meters
from the President, had a hard time containing an excited crowd, who were eager
to get closer to the Head of State.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
