Death of Ruto’s Bodyguard That Stirred Political Heat

President William Ruto’s former bodyguard, Sergeant Kenei Kipyegon mysterious death in February 2020 stirred political heat in the country amid accusations and counter accusations from the politicians.

Until his lifeless body was discovered in his house at Imara Daima in a pool of blood, Sergeant Kenei Kipyegon was part of the then Deputy President William Ruto’s security team.

But the 33 year-old failed to report to duty, something that was unusual. A search mission was launched, leading to the discovery of his body in his house.

The body had bullet wounds amid claims that he may have committed suicide. But as the detectives from the Directorate of Criminals Investigations took over the case, doubts were raised on whether the officer shot himself dead.

Postmortem results indicated that Kenei died of a single gunshot injury from his chin which exited through his head.

The then DCI boss George Kinoti took over the case. But by the time he left office in 2022, Kenyans were still in the dark on the death of Ruto’s bodyguard.

During Kenei funeral, emotions ran high as Dr Ruto accused the government of the day of allegedly being behind his bodyguard’s death.

According to the DP, the motive of Kenei’s death was to silence him. But he insisted that no one will scare even as he dared the state to kill him.

It is now almost four years since Kenei’s death which remains unresolved. Who was behind it and why? Is the case still active? Or was the file closed? Will it be reopened in future?

At one point, Kenei’s family turned the hit on Ruto, accusing him of abandoning the family.