Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse , who has kept a low profile since playing a leading role in the impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua as Kenya's deputy president, has gone public with what he says are his rewards from President William Ruto.
Speaking about the historic impeachment for the first time in his constituency on Saturday, December 14, Mr Mutuse told a funeral gathering that the rewards range from road projects to government appointments and the hiring of teachers and other workers from the region.
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He, for instance, announced a new plan by the Kenyan Kwanza government to tarmac Emali-Ukia road which cuts across Makueni County.
Tarmacking of the 45-kilometre road, which the MPs said was set to begin in February 2025, would be the first new road project by the Ruto administration in the county.
The first-time MP, who was elected on Maendeleo Chap Chap party ticket, said the road project was part of the give-and-take settlement by President Ruto after the lawmaker moved a motion to kick out Mr Gachagua.
“Mr Gachagua was planning to take Sh2 billion, which the government received from China, to the Mount Kenya region for tarmacking Mau Mau roads,” Mr Mutuse told mourners at Muatini village in Makueni County during the burial of Mama Naomi Mulatya, the mother to Florence Mulatya, Kenya’s Education attaché in Australia.
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Other grounds included violation of Article 10 on the national values and principles of governance, undermining the National Cohesion and Integration Act, violation of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, violation of the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, and breach of the Penal Code, and the Leadership and Integrity Act.
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The alleged list of rewards for the MP from Dr Ruto and his administration also includes the appointment of Makeuni's sons and daughter to senior government positions.
Mr Mutuse mentioned that former Kenya Medical Supplies Agency acting Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mulwa, who testified against Mr Gachagua, was set to get a "big state appointment".
Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse speaks during a funeral at Muatini Village in Makueni County on December 14, 2024.
Photo credit: Pius Maundu | Nation
Exuding absolute power, the legislator announced President Ruto's tour of the region by February next year.
The mission, he said, would include the compensation of communities who surrendered their land six years ago to allow for the upgrading of the Kibwezi-Kitui road.
Mr Mutuse also announced a government plan to create more administrative units in Kibwezi sub-county.
"Before I became an MP, some people claimed that Kibwezi sub-county would be moved to Kambu Township. After I was elected, Kibwezi became the smallest sub-county in Kenya. Kikumbulyu used to be under one chief. Today, the area that used to be under a chief is now under a sub-county commissioner called Paul Khaoya. There are two departments. Kisayani will have a deputy county commissioner by February next year," he said.
"Talk among yourselves and identify a qualified teacher who is willing to teach at Muatini Secondary School. Give me the name before the end of this ceremony so that he can be processed on Monday and start teaching immediately," he said.
"You wondered why I joined the government. Can someone who is not in government employ a teacher during a funeral?" he asked.
Kibwezi West Constituency Member of Parliament Mwengi Mutuse during Kithure Kindiki's swearing-in as Deputy President of Kenya at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre on November 1, 2024.
Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation
"This (the road project) will be the government's biggest achievement in Makueni County. We have been waiting for decades," said George Mutinda, a resident of Muatini.
“Every December, we are always told that the road will be tarmacked in February the following year. We are used to this language,” said Charity Wavinya Mwalimu.
The 45-kilometre road, which is part of a road network linking Tanzania to Ethiopia through several counties, serves Makueni’s fruit belt.
It has been a campaign tool for decades. Area politicians jostle for credit whenever it appears that the government is about to tarmac the road.
“Tarmacking Emali-Ukia road will put more money in the pockets of fruit farmers as it is set to enhance access to lucrative markets,” Makueni Speaker Douglas Mbilu said recently.
The road is currently in a state of disrepair, with vehicles either stuck in muddy sections or swept by streams during the rainy season.
There was excitement in 2020 as Kenya Rural Roads Authority began tarmacking the road after a series of protests by boda boda operators and motorists.
However, the tarmacking stalled barely six kilometres from Emali Township.
Tarmacking of the road was top in the list of projects that Dr Ruto and Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga separately pledged to deliver in the county as they campaigned in the region ahead of the 2022 General Election.
While pleading for the resumption of the tarmacking a year ago, Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior termed the Emali-Ukia road the only economic corridor for the county.
“Tarmacking Emali-Ukia road will spur economic growth in Kajiado, Makueni, Machakos and Garissa counties,” he told President Ruto when they shared a platform in August last year during the award of a charter to the Open University of Kenya at the Konza Technopolis.
