Interior CS Fred Matiang’i has denounced claims by the Kenya Kwanza Alliance presidential candidate William Ruto alleging National Police Reservists (NPRs) were withdrawn from the volatile Keriyo valley to tear him down.


Matiang’i said Ruto’s claims were untrue, noting that the security environment and consultations with leaders inform security deployment.

He was speaking on Wednesday during the launch of the Policy on Care of Children of Incarcerated Mothers together with the unveiling of the Rapid Results Initiative Phase I report.

He said there still is a presence of the NPRs in some parts of the North Rift region and they have never been withdrawn from there or any other part of Kenya.

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"As we speak right now we have National Police Reservists (NPRs) in some parts of North Rift there has never been a time where we have withdrawn NPRs from North Rift or any part of the country. What happens in the security sector is that reviews are done from time to time depending on what is needed in a particular area," said the CS.

"And in most cases, consultations are done with local groups... In some areas wananchi themselves and even their political leaders tell you we a need a redeployment of police reservists."


Matiang’i criticised Ruto for his remarks and urged politicians to desist from trivialising and politicising security matters.

The CS took a swipe at the DP terming his politics as petty and also said he lies as though his life and career depended on it.

He referred to the 2022 Presidential debate which took place on Tuesday at the Catholic University of East Africa’s Pope Paul VI learning resource centre in which Ruto debated against himself since his main competitor from the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition Raila Odinga did not attend.


"To be very honest, I frankly don't like spending time commenting on some of these flippant and petty political things because a lot of the people lie all the time. You know some of them no lie like a career. You know it's like that is what they went to school to be trained. You saw those lies yesterday. They lie about anything. They can't tell you anything. Probably the only true thing about themselves is their name," the CS said.

During the Presidential debate, Ruto said the government withdrew the NPRs from the Rift Valley in a politically motivated move to punish him.


“I have deployed my personal resources to deal with that situation because I know it was a political agenda; the withdrawal of the National Police Reserve (NPR) was really an unfortunate act but because it was intended to punish William Ruto,” Ruto said.

The subject regions have faced insecurity over time, forcing the government to intervene and sometimes impose curfews to control the violence.