'It was a light moment!' Dennis Itumbi downplays Ruto's shoe incident

Through one of his official communication channels, the government spinmaster shared a video which shows a different perspective from the one that has already gone viral online, with the new video shedding some light on the moments before the shoe landed on the president's face.

The new video, taken from the angle directly in front of the head of state, shows an unidentified man playfully holding up a dusty shoe - admist a sea of mobile phones held high in the air, recording Ruto's speech.

From the new video, which has also been published by Citizen Digital, the man appears to be comically using the shoe as a mobile device to 'record' the president; his angling of the shoe ( in a landscape position) appearing to support the conclusion. 

As Ruto begins to say, "Tulisema kwanza, tupunguze gharama ya... " a different man can be seen slapping away the shoe, which inadvertently flies towards the President, landing smack on his face.

Soon after the shoe reached the president, someone at the back can be heard asking, "Nani huyu? Nani mjinga huyu?"

To backup the new evidence, Itumbi said, "A funny joke spiralled out of control. As everyone pulled out their phones to record the President, one person — without a phone — jokingly held up a shoe instead. Someone nearby, irritated and with a blocked view, thought the shoe was in the way and slapped it aside. Unfortunately, it flew straight and hit the President."

He added, "This was just a moment that got out of hand."

Itumbi went on to ask the public to help him identify the man who was using his shoe to record the president, revealing that there were plans to gift the man an actual phone for proper recording next time. 

"Now, I’m actually looking for the owner of the 'shoe-camera'. A friend of mine Sam Mburu is offering a real phone for the 'shoe-cam' guy so that he can in future create content with a real camera. So he can channel that creativity into content, just like he wanted," he said. 

Shortly after the incident, three people were arrested as police said that investigations were ongoing and that more suspects were being pursued.

Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen said the three were being treated as part of a broader investigation on whether the act was an isolated outburst or part of a more deliberate attempt to breach presidential security.

The incident briefly disrupted the event, which occurred while the President was on his tour of Migori.

Security officers tasked with protecting the president quickly rushed to the stage, and the meeting was disrupted for a few minutes.

The security team pushed the crowd away from near the dais even as the president told them to stop it.