Are Claims That DP Ruto Declared Hatred Against Muslims Legitimate?

By Calvin Rock

In this tweet, a video shows Deputy President William Ruto saying that the Dadaab Refugee Camp should be closed and that Kenya is unapologetically a Christian state. The tweet that has been retweeted 146 times states, “I feel very offended. DP William Ruto has declared total hatred on us Muslims.”

I feel very offended.

DP William Ruto has declared total hatred on us Muslims.

What did we do wrong to him?

Trends : Eldoret | Manchester United | Uhuru | Muchai #KameneAndJalas Kidero | Tiwa | John Munyes | Maguire | Waiguru | Adan Mohamed | Kikuyu | Rift Valley pic.twitter.com/IJv7X0di8Z

— Omar Lali 🇰🇪 (@OmarLali_) February 9, 2022

So, was Ruto really antagonizing Muslims as insinuated in the video?

Background

Following the April 2, 2015 Al-Shabaab attack on Garissa University College which left 147 people dead, the government proposed to have the Dadaab Refugee Camp closed down. In a panel interview on Citizen TV, Asman Kamama, the then chair of the National Security Committee, asserted that intelligence had indicated that the terrorists were trained at the refugee camp.

Piga Firimbi has previously disproved claims intended to malign the deputy president via posts on Twitter. Previously debunked claims can be found here and here.

Verification

The video shared on the tweet bearing claims that DP Ruto supposedly declared on Muslims is a compilation of two videos from unrelated events.

The first video where Ruto seems to order the closure of the Dadaab Refugee Camp, is in light of the Garrissa University terror attack. This was however construed as the government’s stand and not his own opinion. The full context of this statement is in this news bulletin from which the TikTok video was drawn.

In the second video, the DP was speaking at Full Gospel Churches – Gatunduri on February 23, 2020. He was speaking against what he considered the divisiveness of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

The context of the DP’s speech was not religious thus the implication that he was antagonizing Muslims is distorted. Moreover, NTV’s news ticker did not read “Ruto to Muslims” as evidenced on this original video.

Amid his speech, Ruto says “this is a Christian nation and we have no apologies to make to anybody”. He however in the same speech mentioned the building of both churches and mosques.

Verdict

Claims that DP Ruto declared hatred against Muslims are FALSE.