Migori Senator Eddy Oketch hits out at President Ruto over State appointments

Migori Senator Eddy Oketch has faulted the government over what he terms as skewed appointments into public service.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s DayBreak show on Friday, the Senator censured the President William Ruto-led Kenya Kwanza administration over its recent appointments which he said favoured the outfit’s political loyalists.

Senator Oketch argued that the current regime was ill-advised to believe that appointing a section of individuals from a certain locality or tribe perceived as its stronghold equated to awarding their loyalists.

According to him, in a closed and secret election such as the one held in Kenya, it is not possible to determine whether or not a person voted for you, and thus it was unfair to radicalize voters in regard to their region or tribal community.

“Delivery on a national agenda should not be emotional because in a secret ballot, how do you know someone who voted for you?” He posed.

“If you go out there and justify a tribal appointment as a justification for political support, then we are losing our country.”

He added: “You can’t tell someone who used to work for PwC who is extremely competent, and a Luo, that they didn’t vote for you just because you are a Kikuyu. These are wrong premises that we as young people need to start fighting.”

The remarks by the Senator came as a rejoinder after Kirinyaga Woman Representative Njeri Maina, who was also on the show, came to the defence of the government saying it was only rewarding its loyalists in the 2022 August General Election.

“At the end of the day, I know the deputy president has spoken to the eye of many Kenyans on shareholding on government. Politics operates on investments and loyalty, so these are the people the President and his deputy will be able to fuel and run his agenda and deliver to the Kenyan people as per his promises,” she said.

Senator Oketch went on to criticize the government accusing it of tribalism and nepotism, adding that the said vices injure the country’s future. 

He, therefore, advised President Ruto to demonstrate statesmanship since the last election numbers showed his victory was based on a minority out of the overall number of registered voters on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s (IEBC) register.

"This regime has the moral obligation to protect the gains we have made as a country because we have come from a place where nepotism and tribal appointments in public service have brought our country down," he noted.

“If a President was voted for by about 7 million people, the side of Azimio had about 6.9 million. We also know that our voter register has about 22 million people, meaning about 8 million people did not vote. Once you take power and about 14 million people did not believe in you, do you move without the population? The President has the obligation to show a statesmanship kind of character in order to unite the country.”