Kenyan Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said on Wednesday (February 20th) that he received death threats two days before clearing Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta to run for the presidency last week.

Mutunga said he received a "poison-pen letter" dated February 13th, signed by the "Mungiki Veteran Group/Kenya Sovereignty Defence Squad", warning against a ruling barring Kenyatta and his running mate former Eldoret North parliamentarian William Ruto from running in the election.

It has not been established whether the letter came from Mungiki, supporters of the two Jubilee leaders or political rivals, Kenya's The Standard reported.

"Let no individual, group, candidate or supporter imagine that cowardly and dark acts such as this will cow us," Mutunga said.