Digital strategist Dennis Itumbi has disclosed unsettling particulars of a phone conversation he claims to have had with former President Uhuru Kenyatta, in which the ex-Head of State allegedly threatened to “crush and finish” him for supporting his then deputy William Ruto’s State House bid.
Itumbi reminisced about receiving the call from Uhuru while he was en route to Nairobi after attending a funeral in Mwea. The incident, he says, occurred sometime between 2018 and 2019.
“I was somewhere around Mwea when I received the call at around 2 pm. When the President calls and you are driving, there is a natural urge to park the car and speak to him. So I parked the car and he asked why I’m not supporting him,” said Itumbi on TV47’s WabebeXp show.
Baffled by the call, Itumbi responded by expressing his support for Uhuru and his flagship Big 4 Agenda initiative.
“He said No; it’s not the Big 4 I’m talking about. He asked why I was supporting Ruto and not him. I was a bit confused so I asked if there was a problem in supporting Ruto since he was still his deputy. Then he (Uhuru) said that I have to stop going to Karen and Ruto’s office,” recalled Itumbi.
“I got confused because there was no background on the conversation. So I told him that I was not clear on the discussion we were having.”
Uhuru, Itumbi went on, allegedly instructed him to not disconnect the phone call before putting him on hold.
“Since I had parked the car, I decided to continue driving but I put the phone on speaker so that if he spoke I would receive the call. I kid you not, he did not disconnect the phone. He spoke again while I was in Pangani. Then he told me that he was going to crush and finish me if I continued supporting Ruto,” he alleged.
“The conversation in Mwea and the conversation in Pangani was a clear indication that the tone, demeanor and state of the person speaking on the other side was not the same.”
