Deputy President William Ruto went on a spending spree in Bumula, Bungoma County on Sunday, September 27, as he mingled freely with locals.
The DP who was from attending a church service decided to give the crowd a treat and went on to buy refreshments for his supporters.
"Enjoyed a bottle of soda with fellow hustlers at Mama Mary’s Ebenezer shop after a Sunday service in Bumula. May God bless Mama Mary’s hustle," he posted on his Twitter account.
A large crowd of people followed Ruto to the kiosk as his bodyguards tried in vain to protect him.
The security team's work became harder when the deputy president chose to distribute the sodas himself, as the supporters used all manner of tricks to grab his attention.
As the DP seeks to increase his tours around the country, the work can only get harder for his security team. Ruto's campaign seems to rest on the pillar of wanting to resonate with commoners, granting them accessibility, but without compromising his safety.
A former Presidential Escort Unit officer who spoke to Kenyans.co.ke explained that the deputy president enjoys the same calibre of bodyguards as President Uhuru Kenyatta, only in a smaller count.
The contingent drawn from the GSU and Recce teams are highly trained in VIP protection, but in the deputy president's case, close body protection becomes a nightmare when VIPs stray from standard protocol.
"The routes, stops and visits are always scheduled, and an advanced team is always sent ahead to secure the areas. Sometimes the VIPs will decide to stop or go somewhere on the fly, and you have to also think on the fly.
"People who have not been screened cannot be allowed close to the VIP, and that's why sometimes we use our bodies to shield them. If anything happens to them, hell will rain on us," he confided.
He explained that while bodyguards are trained to see potential security lapses or loopholes, their subjects are not, so oftentimes they do not understand the danger of their actions.
The former GSU officer said that it would be very hard for a VIP to be deliberately poisoned due to the random selection of the subject's choice.
Both President Kenyatta and his deputy have defied protocol to engage their supporters and sometimes share a meal.
The late former Vice President George Saitoti was not a fan of that sort of behaviour following a past poisoning experience.
The incident happened in February 1990, a day after the death of Robert Ouko, at an Indian restaurant he frequented in Muthaiga. It is reporetd that he was served food on a plate laced with cyanide gas.
Cyanide can be made into a colourless gas, which was probably sprayed on the plate and food served on it. When ingested, it may result in cardiac arrest or heart failure.
His close shave with death was kept under wraps but one day, former president Daniel Arap Moi turned up for a roadside function outside GPO on Kenyatta Avenue, and in the middle of lambasting his critics, he hinted at what had happened to Saitoti.
"The same people who killed Ouko are the same ones who poisoned my Vice President Saitoti!” Moi declared.
