Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi. Inset is President William Ruto.
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi on Wednesday fired back at President William Ruto after the Head of State accused him of incompetence during his tenure as the attorney-general, in an escalation of their political fallout.
President Ruto on Tuesday blamed Mr Muturi for the delayed creation of the Muslim Endowment Fund (Waqf), describing him as a “fairly incompetent” AG.
“We will continue to address the issues raised here—particularly those concerning education—and explore the link between religious and formal education to determine what needs to be done,” President Ruto said on Tuesday at State House when he hosted Muslims for Iftar, the fast-breaking evening meal for Muslims in the holy month of Ramadhan.
“On Waqf, I agree with you, it has taken too long. There is no reason for the delay, and I had a problem with the AG who was there. He was fairly incompetent, but now I have a very competent lady, and I can assure you the issues of Waqf will be sorted out,” he said.
But Mr Muturi on Wednesday termed the remarks as cheap talk meant to please those who were present at State House.
“Under the Waqf Act no.8 of 2022, there’s no provision for a ‘Muslim Endowment Fund’. It must be understood that a waqf is a religious, charitable or benevolent endowment by a person who professes Muslim faith and is managed by the Waqf Commission,” said Mr Muturi.
He shared with the Nation notes detailing a series of events on the recruitment of Waqf commissioners in an apparent defence of his tenure as the country’s chief legal adviser while accusing his successor, Dorcas Oduor, of stalling the process.
He said that his office appointed the Waqf Commissioners Selection Panel on July 12, 2023, before writing to the National Treasury and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to seek a budget for the selection panel as well as the allowances payable to the team.
He noted that the Waqf Commission Selection Panel held its inception meeting on April 18, 2024.
“On June 11, 2024, the Attorney General (Muturi) runs the advertisement on behalf of the Selection Panel for Waqf Commissioners calling for suitable candidates for the position of members of the Waqf Commission, to apply the deadline being July 1, 2024,” states the notes shared by Mr Muturi.
He said President Ruto dissolved the Cabinet on July 11, 2024, whilst the shortlisting was ongoing.
“The new Attorney-General (Hon. Dorcas Oduor) took over on August 21, 2024 and never moved the process forward to date,” adds the notes.
“On October 17, 2024, the Chairperson of the Waqf Selection Panel, Sheikh Ibrahim Lethome, sought an audience with the current Attorney-General Dorcas Oduor, to progress the matter, but it continues to stall to date.”
President Ruto is caught up in a major political dilemma on whether or not to fire the defiant CS, who has continued to lash out at him from within the government.
Analysts believe that firing Mr Muturi has the potential of fanning the growing political hostility against President Ruto in the larger Mt Kenya region. Keeping him in the Cabinet also threatens to expose the Kenya Kwanza administration as a divided house.
Being a CS and an insider in the current regime, political analysts say claims and counter-claims by Mr Muturi pose the risk of eroding public trust in President Ruto’s leadership, which is already struggling with unfulfilled promises.
But the political implication of firing him seems to be holding Dr Ruto from kicking him out. Sources at State House indicate that Dr Ruto wants Mr Muturi to instead resign. In the recent government shake-up, it was largely expected that the president would fire the vocal CS who has publicly declared that he is not afraid of the axe.
The thinking is that if fired, Mr Muturi is likely to come out as a hero, who was kicked out for siding with the public in condemning the rising spate of abductions linked to state security agencies.
Further, firing Mr Muturi is seen to have a potential of working against the President's plans of wooing Mt Kenya East, where the CS hails from, after facing hostility in the dominant Mt Kenya West following the impeachment of Mr Rigathi Gachagua as Deputy President.
Critics say that Mr Muturi is following in the same script that Dr Ruto used on former President Uhuru Kenyatta, whom he consistently accused of many ills, including extra-judicial killings, even when he was holding the second-highest office on the land.
Mr Muturi seems to be aware of this dilemma and has continued to take on President Ruto.
He has since publicly declared that he would not attend Cabinet meetings until the issue of the alleged instigated State abductions is discussed.
“In my case, I have written and sought to be excused from Cabinet meetings unless the agenda of abductions and extrajudicial killings is formally tabled before Cabinet, through a Cabinet memorandum,” said CS Muturi.
“The Cabinet must express itself and give the country the way forward regarding these serious issues.”
US-based university lecturer and political analyst David Monda notes that, “Muturi presents Ruto with a horrible dilemma, and Muturi knows this. Fire him, and Ruto further alienates himself from Mt Kenya East. Keep him in government, and he remains a real and persistent thorn in the side of the Kenya Kwanza Administration.”
Following his first open attack on Dr Ruto’s administration on January 12, when he accused security agencies of alleged involvement in abductions of government critics, Mr Muturi has continued to attack President Ruto’s administration from within.
This even as he dismissed those calling for his resignation.
“The buck must stop somewhere. Mr President, I am calling upon you now to order an end to these abductions and open an inquiry to examine how these things have been happening. We cannot normalize this. These are very young lives that have been taken away. Their parents have been agonizing”.
“Why are we allowing young people to be kidnapped and later found killed? What a country are we, and we are pretending to be resolving issues in DRC,” posed Mr Muturi at Nairobi Funeral Home following the discovery of two bodies of the missing ‘Mlolongo three’.
He recently said that he would not be accompanying the President in his planned tour of Mt Kenya that swept him to power in 2022, but has since turned against him.
mnyamori@ke.nationmedia.com
