Pressure mounts on President Ruto to sack some CSs, advisors

Utterances by Trade and Industry CS Moses Kuria and Economic Advisor David Ndii have been deemed insensitive, drawing the censure of among others, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

In the lead-up to his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President William Ruto has been busy on the American West Coast propping up Kenya as a favourable investment destination as well as the best-placed location for the technology revolution in Africa.

For a tour of the American bastion of trade, technology and innovation, it came across as odd that President Ruto travelled with his first-line trade and technology officials and it came as no surprise when hosts mixed up their introductions.

“I am pleased to greet his Excellency President William Ruto, and his high-level government delegation from Kenya today, including Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Dr. Alfred Mutua, Principal Secretary for ICT and Digital Economy John Tanui and Cabinet Secretary and Economic Advisor Adan Mohammed, all protocols observed.

Adan Mohammed is a former Trade Cabinet Secretary in President Uhuru Kenyatta's cabinet and now serves as Trade Advisor for President Ruto. But here, he was introduced as the CS Trade, whether by slip of the tongue or not isn’t clear. 

Thousand of miles away, the substantive holder of the Trade docket Moses Kuria was trading off unpleasantries, telling off Kenyans who criticised the spike in fuel prices.

“Si wachimbe kisima yao,” he said in Laikipia on Monday.

Away from the microphones, Moses Kuria went online, tweeting up a storm that caught the attention of among others Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua who distanced the government from the remarks. 

Elsewhere, others including close government allies called for accountability.

“President Ruto, sack these people, otherwise serikali yako sasa hata at a small function like this, inaanza kukaa  kama ikona sura mbaya,” said Bonnie Khalwale.

In a separate cabinet theatre, an unusual exchange has ensued at the Water and Irrigation Ministry between Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome and Principal Secretary Dr Kiprono Rotich over the fate of the CEO Athi River Water Works Development Authority who is accused of graft. 

Letters have been exchanged between the CS and PS in a manner that governance observers would consider a breach of protocol. 

The happenings in sections of the cabinet come weeks after President William Ruto expressed displeasure over the performance of his cabinet; whose members the president suggested lacked knowledge of their own docket.

“Many of you who I speak to don’t even know what is going on in your ministries or departments, you have very scanty information, the moment I know more than you in your ministry, then you must begin to understand that something is very wrong,” said Ruto.

The cabinet secretaries performance has also caught the attention of the public who recently in an opinion poll, scored the entire cabinet a measly D grade, with all the ministries that deal with the economy rated as poor, perhaps a reflection of the state of the country’s economy.