President Ruto: Kalonzo Musyoka rejected my government job offer
President William Ruto after a thanksgiving service at the Africa Inland Church (A.I.C) Kitui township. Also with him are Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Kitui County Governor Julius Malombe, Machakos County Governor Wavinya Ndeti and Former Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua among other political leaders.
What you need to know:
- The President regretted that Mr Musyoka flatly rejected the offer to work with the Kenya Kwanza Alliance administration.
- The doors for Mr Musyoka to join the government, the President said, were still open.
- Earlier, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said with all the problems of food and water scarcity facing the Ukambani region, the community had no reason to stay in the opposition to satisfy the interests of one person.
President William Ruto yesterday said he had made deliberate efforts to engage Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, including offering him a job in his government, which he declined.
The President regretted that Mr Musyoka flatly rejected the offer to work with the Kenya Kwanza Alliance administration.
“You have talked about my brother Stephen. He is my elder brother and whenever he is ready to work with me, I’ll definitely embrace him for the sake of national unity. I looked for him after the election and I told him: ‘I have the government now, come work with me.’ He told me that he wanted to try his hand at the opposition. And I said okay,” he said.
President Ruto was speaking during a thanksgiving prayer service at Africa Inland Church in Kitui Township where he was asked by Ukambani leaders, led by Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti, to accommodate Mr Musyoka in his government.
The doors for Mr Musyoka to join the government, the President said, were still open.
“If you remember, I told you this when I was here last. I told you if God makes it possible for me to form a government, I will look for my brother Stephen and involve him in running the government,” he added.
But the President said the Kamba community’s development interests will be catered for fully and that he had already assigned three key Cabinet portfolios to leaders from the region. He has nominated Dr Alfred Mutua (Foreign and Diaspora Affairs), Ms Peninah Malonza (Tourism) and Dr Monica Juma (National Security Advisor).
Earlier, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said with all the problems of food and water scarcity facing the Ukambani region, the community had no reason to stay in the opposition to satisfy the interests of one person.
“I want to challenge your governors to champion the agenda of bringing the community to work with President Ruto because our doors are open in the broader plans to unify the whole country,” said Mr Gachagua.
Debt dependency
On the debt question, President Ruto said he will champion efforts to rid Kenya of foreign debt dependency. He appealed to all Kenyans, especially the well-to-do to faithfully pay their taxes to enable the government to accomplish development projects.
“The only way we can truly be independent is when we can finance our development programmes with our own money. We don’t want our nation to continue being in debt because we’ve become slaves of foreign lenders,” the President said.
Those at the bottom of the pyramid were faithful in paying taxes, unlike the rich who were notorious in tax evasion, he said.
The Head of State’s visit was billed as an attempt to reach out to a region that voted overwhelmingly for his main rival in the presidential election Mr Raila Odinga.
Ms Malonza, who was the host, said: “So far we feel highly favoured as a region because the President gave us three Cabinet slots, and we have every reason to thank him for that gesture because he never considered the vote numbers while making the appointments.”
