The unfolding of the sickening events in the country raging from the health workers’ strike, road accidents leading to deaths and injuries and fake subsidy fertilizer program has exposed the Kenya Kwanza administration.
The Cabiet Secretaries involved led; Susan Nakhumicha, Kipchumba Murkomen and Mithika Linturi respectively have been labelled as incompetent and incapacitated to execute their roles but what have attracted the wrath of Kenyans is the deafening silence of President William Ruto.
While Kenyans dying out of the road carnage and due to lack of medics to attend them at hospitals while farmers have been thrown under the bus after the fake fertilizer subsidy which is full of sand, and dog feces, the Head of State is on a globe-trotting spree campaigning for his arc-rival turned friend Raila Odinga or his African Union Commission chairmanship bid.
Raila too has been silenced by Ruto’s offer and has betrayed his earlier presentation as a downtrodden defender and people’s watchmen.
To fill the void left by the Opposition, other bodies such as National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) and a crop of leaders from across the political divide have come out calling for the resignation of the three Cabinet Ministers.
According to NCCK Nakhumicha is not offering any meaningful solutions to end the industrial action by doctors, clinical officers and laboratory officers, a move the umbrella of churches say has left the public without access to crucial services.
NCCK’s Nairobi region chairman, Alphonse Kanga, noted that the untold suffering and agony patients are witnessing in hospitals is enough reason for Nakhumicha to step down.
“In some countries, if one person dies because something has gone wrong, he or she either fixes the problem or steps down. It is that simple,” Kanga said.
“It is not the people of my caliber who are suffering. A bishop can afford to go to [the private] Aga Khan Hospital, for instance, but that grandmother in the village cannot afford that so we want the President to talk about this, solve the problem and let people live well in this nation.”
CS Nakhumicha and the government have urged the striking health workers to return to the negotiating table but their offers so far have been rejected by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU), and others, which say all their demands must be met to prevent a recurrence of issues.
The CS says the issues go beyond the Health ministry, involving multiple stakeholders who must all come together to address them to prevent Kenyans from suffering any further.
Kanga accused Linturi of not being clear about the fake fertilizer scandal that followed a subsidy programme by the government. “The fertilizer was distributed within systems that exist. They know the storekeepers and how it was transported and must be accountable,” he said.
On March 20, the Senate said it had summoned Linturi, Trade minister Rebecca Miano (Trade), and officials of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) over the transgression that has seen farmers across the country lose money.
Thus far, Linturi has refuted claims that the state issued the poor quality product and asked farmers not to believe hearsay around the issue, alleging a plot to negatively portray Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza government. He notes that government fertiliser is scientifically tested and approved before being circulated to Kenyan farmers.
Regarding road crashes, the religious leader says Murkomen has a lot to do to bring about change.
“The rate of accidents in Kenya can be measured by the rate of corruption. We must have consolidated efforts by the police, the [National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), and everybody else concerned because these accidents show that things have gone out of hand,” he said.
President Ruto has not yet issued statements, even as pressure mounts for the government to take decisive action.
The youthful leaders from the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA), ODM, Jubilee and Wiper parties who have vowed to chart their own political path by replacing ‘the lax opposition’ and keeping the government on toes have also field a notice of impeachment motion against Nakhumicha.
The political formation calling itself ‘team ground’ which seeks to also push a narrative of generational change in the leadership of the country have announced that they will be holding political rallies, protests and meet the people tour around the country to challenge the government and its policies.
The six-member caucus include UDA’s Gathoni Wamuchomba (Githunguri) ODM’s Babu Owino (Embakasi East), Caleb Amisi (Sabaoti), and Catherine Omanyo (Busia), Wiper’s Charles Nguna (Mwingi West) Jubilee’s Amos Mwago (Starehe) and Mark Mwenje (Embakasi West).
The leaders will represent Central, Nairobi, Western, Nyanza, Eastern and the youth interests respectively even as they pledged to oppose the ‘autocratic leadership’ of President William Ruto.
The team has also demanded for the review of the Privatization Act saying such policies were thoughtless of the future generation while demanding that government withdraws the fake fertilizer and seeds from farmers and issue legitimate products ‘as the rains would not wait for the bureaucratic processes’
“Privatization Act was a forceful tool and the bill was voted by force and now we have reached a point where our national assets are being sold. National Bank of Kenya has been sold to another bank allegedly from Nigeria and my question is if we start selling these assets do we care about our children and grandchildren do we care about the future of this country. We demand that 10 percent of whatever is being sold of the assets must be retained as generational wealth,” said Wamuchomba.