President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua are meeting with Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and top government officials to evaluate the performance of his administration since he assumed office after the August 9 General Election.
For the better part of yesterday, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi chaired the session that was aimed at harmonising, bonding and creating synergy to realise Dr Ruto’s manifesto as promised during the election campaigns. Opening the four-day retreat, he called on all government officials to shun politics and focus on service delivery.
“Politics is now behind us. It is our key mandate to focus on delivering the best to Kenyans, rather than talking too much. We are here to evaluate ourselves on how we have performed as a government compared to the manifesto that we presented to Kenyans,” Mr Mudavadi said.
He urged Kenyans to give the Kenya Kwanza administration time to revive the economy and fulfil all its pledges. “We have fulfilled various pledges that are meant to revive the economy. Of course, all promises cannot be fulfilled in a day and that is why we are here to plan. We are making priorities on how we are going to deliver to our people. We will require Parliament to assist us,” the Prime CS said.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the meeting offered all government ministries and agencies an opportunity to work harmoniously towards a common goal of improving the economy.
“Yes, we are new in government and we need to understand that the government operates as one entity and on the collective responsibility principle. This meeting gives us an opportunity to understand how to work together across all ministries,” he said.
“This is a useful interaction and my expectation is to know the limits of my constitutional responsibility and where consultations are necessary. We are being educated on how to run the government and understand its overall vision for the next five years. We are learning how to manage debts, as well as the economy,” he added.
The top officials argue that the retreat is meant to enhance synergy at all levels of government to ensure they are aligned with the government’s development agenda. “During this meeting, we shall be analysing the needful interventions. We are different ministries with different mandates, but the output of one ministry is the input of another. All this, put together, has to be aligned to the overall development agenda, which is the Kenya Kwanza bottom-up economic model,” Information, Communication and Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo said.
During the closed-door conference, the Executive discussed the vision and manifesto of the new administration.
Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui said his ministry is keen on actualising the bottom-up economic model.
“This administration was elected on the basis of lifting Kenyans from the bottom and raising their standards up and the mandate was canvassed across the country,” Mr Chelugui said.
“The government was established by President Ruto and this meeting offers us an opportunity to reflect on where the country is and where we need to take it to. We have set ourselves targets, which we aim to achieve under the leadership of our President.”
During the Executive’s first retreat in Mt Kenya, Dr Ruto and Mr Gachagua are expected to have an audience with local leaders. Top of their agenda will be agriculture, water and infrastructure.
Leaders from Laikipia and Nyeri counties are keen to push for the construction of key mega dams to mitigate the effects of drought. On Sunday, Dr Ruto is expected to grace an interdenominational prayer meeting in Nanyuki Stadium.
