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In a revelatory interview at NTV on Friday, April 4, 2025, , former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi accused President William Ruto of hypocrisy, claiming that the president publicly condemns corruption while privately orchestrating high-value, potentially corrupt deals.
Muturi, who worked closely with Ruto for two years before being dismissed in a recent Cabinet reshuffle, painted a starkly different picture of the president—one that allegedly contrasts sharply with his public persona.
“He is a dangerous character,” Muturi said bluntly. “In my honest opinion, Ruto is unfit for the presidency. I have no personal bitterness against him; this is simply my assessment. Watching him speak to Cabinet members about wanting to eradicate corruption made me question who was actually speaking.”
The former CS didn’t hold back in his critique, calling Ruto “absolutely, very, irredeemably corrupt,” and went on to provide details of what he described as attempts by the president to pressure him into endorsing questionable deals.
One of the most shocking allegations involved a Ksh.129 billion deal with Russian oligarchs. According to Muturi, during the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, he was called by President Ruto and instructed to sign a deal with Russian businessmen who were eager to invest in Kenya under the guise of a tree-planting initiative.
“I landed in Dubai, and I received a call from Ruto, who told me the Russians were waiting at the airport and that I needed to sign the deal immediately. I refused, explaining that I needed to review the documents in my office first,” Muturi recalled.
The deal, which was purported to be a grant aimed at planting three billion trees, seemed suspicious to Muturi. He pointed out that the money should have gone through the National Treasury, not directly to a ministry, as stipulated by Kenyan law.
“Whenever Ruto proposes projects, it always comes back to money-making,” Muturi explained. “They gave me a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), but I insisted the Ksh.129 billion could only come through the Treasury, not directly to the ministry.”
Muturi’s claims didn’t stop with the Russian deal. He also revisited the infamous Arror and Kimwarer dam scandal, where the Kenyan government secured a loan worth Ksh.63 billion from the Italian company CMC di Ravenna. Allegations of financial mismanagement, inflated costs, and poor oversight led to public outcry.
Muturi revealed that he had outright refused to approve the dam projects, even though the government had already paid billions to contractors with little to show for it.
“I refused to sign the Arror and Kimwarer dam deals. The Italians had already been paid, but in Kimwarer, nothing had been done. The report I received was faulty,” he recalled.
Despite his objections, Muturi said President Ruto, along with top Italian officials, continued to press for the project’s approval, leading him to question the rationale behind such persistent efforts.
“I was invited to several meetings with the Head of Public Service to discuss the dams, but I wondered why they were still pushing forward with a project that was costing Kenya Ksh.38 billion in losses,” Muturi explained. “They wanted me to sign the agreements, but I declined.”
Since his removal from the Cabinet, Muturi has faced accusations that his criticisms of the president are driven by personal grudges. However, the former CS firmly rejected such claims.
“I’m not motivated by revenge,” he said. “I have no personal vendetta. My aim is to speak the truth. I have documents—soft copies—that I can provide to back up every word I’ve said.”
These statements come on the heels of Muturi’s dismissal as Cabinet Secretary, a move that further strained his already tense relationship with Ruto. Despite the controversy surrounding his firing, Muturi remained resolute, stating that his conscience was clear, and he had nothing to hide.
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