NAIROBI — The Kenyan government has described as "shameful" an incident in which a shoe was thrown at President William Ruto during a rally on Sunday.

Ruto fended off a shoe thrown at him during a speech about the cost of living which has been a source of public anger.

Widely shared video clips show the footwear striking the president's left arm as he held it aloft while he was speaking.

Government spokesman Isaac Mwaura condemned what happened and called for those behind it to be "apprehended". "What would happen if we all decided to throw shoes at each other? What values are we teaching our children?" he asked in post on X calling for the institution of the presidency to be respected.

Kenyan media are reporting that three people have been arrested, but the police have not confirmed this.

Ruto has been compelled to abandon tax hikes and invite opposition members into cabinet, but discontent remains high in the East African nation.

On Sunday at the rally in Migori county in western Kenya, Ruto blocked the flying footwear with his arm and did not appear to be injured, according to three videos.

“We have said we are reducing the price of fertilizer, true or false?” he said as the shoe bounced off him, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said police had arrested three people, The Star newspaper reported.

An official video of the event shared by the president on X does not show the shoe incident, which appears to have happened off-camera.

However, commotion within the crowd is briefly seen. The president is heard asking his security officers, who may have been about to look for the culprit, to leave the people in the audience alone.

The screen then goes blank before and minutes later the video shows other people speaking at the rally.

The shoe-throwing comes amid growing concerns over the safety of public officials. Last week, an opposition MP was shot dead in the capital, Nairobi, by gunmen on a motorcycle in a suspected assassination.

Nelson Koech, an MP in the president's party, said Sunday's incident was an "affront to our democracy" adding that "we have taken a joke too far".

"You can imagine if that shoe was a bullet... people joke about the security of the president. It took a very bold step for someone to take their shoe and throw it at the president.

"We must secure the head of state," he told local station Citizen TV.

Migori is in a region considered to be a stronghold of veteran opposition politician Raila Odinga, who ran against Ruto in the 2022 presidential election, but who has since made a deal with the president.

The agreement signed in March between Odinga and Ruto was "to help ease the prevailing tension in the country", following deadly anti-tax demonstrations last year.

Since he became president in 2022, Ruto has faced protests from Kenyans frustrated with the cost of living and increased taxes. — Agencies