A Kenyan musician criticised after a video of his song was perceived to be a character assassination of Deputy President William Ruto has hit back saying he would never put out a track that invoked "ethnic tension".

The popular Kikuyu singer Muigai wa Njoroge, who is from the same ethnic group as Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, released the song earlier in August called Mbari Ya Kimendero, which translates as "the greedy clan".

According to Kenyan newspaper the Standard, videos of the song circulating on social media have been edited to include video clips of Mr Ruto in a negative light.

Njoroge told the Standard that he had made a complaint to the police's Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), saying his song was plagiarised and embedded with those clips in a bid to tarnish his name.

President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, who is Kalenjin, were once political rivals but came together to form an alliance and have gone on to win two elections together.

Their rival communities had clashed following the disputed 2007 elections - in which more than 1,000 people died.