Nairobi — President William Ruto has defended Kenya's refusal to arrest leaders of the Congo River Alliance unveiled in Nairobi on December 15 following Kinshasa's request.

Speaking Sunday in a televised interview with local media outlets, Ruto emphasized that Kenya is a democratic country that upholds the freedom of free speech and a free press.

He was responding to questions on a protest by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Kinshasa faulted Nairobi for "allowing" the exiled former Chairman of DRC's Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) Corneille Nangaa, in the company of M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa, to issue a statement critical to President Felix Tshisekedi's administration.

"DRC wanted to know whether we can arrest them. We told them Kenya is a democracy, we cannot arrest anyone who has issued a statement. We don't arrest people who make statements, we arrest criminals," Ruto said.

"If anybody has committed any criminality, we will go out of our way to deal with them, but [not] issuing statements. How many people in Kenya issue statements against me everyday? That is what a democracy is all about."

Ruto underscored that Kenya is a country with a free press and cannot prevent anyone from engaging with the media.

Weighing in on the decision by DRC to recall their ambassador to Kenya and summoning Kenya's ambassador to DRC, Ruto acknowledged Kinshasa's right to do so.

He added that different countries have different ways and protocols of handling different situations but reiterated that Kenya "I cannot arrest anybody merely because they issued a statement."

"That is undemocratic is a democratic that is not how Kenya is, that is not the Kenya, you all know. We are all different. countries have democracies in different ways," he added.

Ruto's remarks came hours after the Foreign Office said Kenya would work to identify persons behind the Congo River Alliance declaration in Nairobi and possible violations of free speech provisions.

Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Musalia Mudavadi however said Kenya would seek to establish if indeed utterances made at the press conference "fall outside constitutionally protected speech".

Mudavadi maintained that Kenya is an open and democratic state where freedom of the press is guaranteed noting that "non-nationals may engage the Kenyan media without reference to the government."