By Enyichukwu Enemanna
An incident in which a shoe was thrown at President William Ruto during a rally on Sunday was “shameful”, the Kenyan government said in a statement.
A viral video clip shows the footwear landing on the left arm of the Kenyan leader as he held it aloft during his address to the crowd.
“What would happen if we all decided to throw shoes at each other? What values are we teaching our children?” government spokesman Isaac Mwaura asked in a post on X while condemning the incident.
While calling for the institution of the presidency to be respected, Mwaura called for those behind the incident to be “apprehended”.
Locals have reported that three people have been arrested, but the police have not confirmed this.
Some MPs have also criticised the shoe-throwing, which has been described as a major security lapse.
Ruto was speaking at a public event in the western county of Migori as part of a three-day tour of the region, where he has been commissioning projects completed by his administration.
The shoe-throwing comes at a time when concern is growing over the safety of public officials in the East African country.
Last week, an opposition lawmaker, Were Charles, was shot dead in the capital, Nairobi, by gunmen on a motorcycle in a suspected assassination.
Nelson Koech, an MP in the president’s party, said Sunday’s incident was an “affront to our democracy”, adding that “we have taken a joke too far”.
“You can imagine if that shoe was a bullet… people joke about the security of the president. It took a very bold step for someone to take their shoe and throw it at the president.
“We must secure the head of state,” he told local station Citizen TV.
Migori is in a region considered to be a stronghold of veteran opposition politician Raila Odinga, who ran against Ruto in the 2022 presidential election, but who has since made a deal with the president.
Ruto, who came to office in 2022, has presided over a country facing a high cost of living amidst growing taxes.
Last year, an effort to impose a new tax was resisted, leading to an invasion of parliament. A deadly clash with security forces led to the killing of dozens of persons.
Authorities at the time said the tax hike was necessary to offset international debts and meet domestic needs.
