Scholar Prof Makau Mutua has alleged that Rift Valley region voted for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto in the 2013 and 2017 general elections because of the ICC cases that faced them.
In an interview with Citizen TV shared on Twitter, the Buffalo School of Law dean claimed that it would be 'difficult' to attribute President Kenyatta's victory in the last two general elections in Rift Valley region to his deputy's mobilization efforts.
Mutua argued that Rift Valley residents elected both the president and his deputy as a pair because of the International Criminal Court tribulations they were both facing.
"It is difficult to say that Mr Ruto delivered the Rift Valley. I would say that the Rift Valley voted for Ruto and Kenyatta and the reason why that part of the country voted for them is that they were besieged by the International Criminal Court ICC," he argued.
Mutua also rubbished assertions that Kenyatta intended to support his deputy William Ruto after the expiry of his tenure in 2017.
According to him, the president never showed any commitment to support Ruto's presidential ambitions.
"It is clear to me, and it was clear to me then, that Mr Kenyatta never intended to reciprocate this particular relation," observed the professor.
In the run-up to the 2013 general elections, Prof Makau Mutua had been an ardent critic of President Kenyatta and his deputy because of criminal charges facing them at the ICC in relation to the 2007/08 Post Elections Violence.