President William Ruto is facing a delicate balancing act as pressure mounts on him to crack the whip on some top government officials, amid growing crises within his administration.
Coming just over a month after reading the riot act to his Cabinet secretaries and principal secretaries in Naivasha in February, the President has found his government embroiled in one crisis after another.
The health sector is grappling with a crisis in the form of a medics strike that is threatening to ground the critical sector.
But even as the government is scratching its head on how to deal with the health workers’ strike, another fiasco has unravelled in the form of fake fertiliser being sold to farmers.
At least six of President Ruto’s ministers are wrestling with crises in their dockets, a situation that has put the Kenya Kwanza government on the spotlight.
Health CS Susan Nakhumicha has been unable to deal with the doctors’ strike while Trade CS Rebecca Miano and her Agriculture and Livestock counterpart Mithika Linturi are dealing with the ongoing fake fertiliser and seeds saga.
The banditry menace has also roped in Interior CS Kithure Kindiki into the ongoing web of missteps by the government.
Education CS Ezekiel Machogu is also in the hot seat over delayed capitation to schools and the poor state of junior secondary schools while his Roads and Transport counterpart is grappling with increasing road fatalities with the government appearing helpless to contain the tide.
Seeming not to catch a break, President Ruto could also be facing another political litmus test in the form of heightening political temperatures over the fate of the national dialogue committee (Nadco) report.
Already, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka has cranked the pressure on the President by accusing his government of being behind last week’s High Court ruling that put the brakes on the implementation of the report birthed to quell anti-government protests.
The government has been unable to forestall the nationwide doctors strike which began on March 15 and is now on its third week leaving patients in uncertainty.
Despite repeated attempts at negotiation led by CS Nakhumicha, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei and Labour CS Florence Bore, no solution has been reached with each party holding its ground.
Some of the issues that the doctors want addressed by the government are the posting of interns and the implementation of a 2017 collective bargaining agreement and counties to harmonise doctors’ pay.
To make matters worse, clinical officers and nurses have also downed their tools in a move that will paralyse health services in public hospitals.
The current regime has also come under sharp criticism over its failure to deal with escalating banditry and cattle rustling in the volatile North Rift region.
Already, the banditry menace has left more than 300 people dead, over 2,700 families displaced and more than 20 schools closed since last year.
Some 14 counties have been plagued with banditry and livestock rustling with Turkana, West Pokot, Elgeyo-Marakwet, Baringo, Laikipia and Samburu worst hit.
But despite the government talking tough, bandit attacks in Samburu West constituency, for instance, have left over 72 people dead in just four months, including Angata Nanyekie MCA Paul Leshimpiro.
The situation forced President Ruto to call for a meeting of top security officials in the country at his Kilgoris home on Saturday as he expressed concern over escalating banditry in the North Rift.
As the President received a security brief on the situation in the region, armed bandits staged a daring attack on Ng’aratuko Primary School in Baringo North setting ablaze the staff room and head teacher’s office.
“The security operation in the North Rift has had a significant impact in restoring peace. Recent incidents of cattle rustling and banditry are being handled with new additional measures,” Dr Ruto said.
“We are determined to restore peace in the North Rift and all other parts of the country that have witnessed disturbance of peace,” he added.
Despite a positive outlook by the President, a section of Kenya Kwanza MPs want the Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome to resign over the persistent insecurity in the North Rift region.
Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot has challenged Mr Koome to resign if he cannot deal firmly with banditry and insecurity in parts of the country that has caused loss of lives and property.
He said Mr Koome should lead from the front by leaving Jogoo House and go to Kerio Valley to deal with the banditry menace.
President William Ruto chairs a past Cabinet meeting at State House in Nairobi.
Photo credit: PCS
“How can you be the IG when Kenyans are being killed and maimed every day and you are not talking about it? If he (Koome) is unable to deal with it, then he should resign…” Mr Cheruiyot said while speaking during a fundraiser at the Bomet Green stadium yesterday.
“If the IG (Koome) cannot guarantee peace for Kenyans, he can step aside and pave the way for those with the ability to do so to take charge (of the docket),” he added.
CS Kindiki has been the face of the fight against bandits with whistle stop tours around the trouble zones meeting top security and administrative officers to lay attack plans against the bandits.
Despite the tours by the CS and regional security teams, the attacks have persisted and even after roping in the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), the bandits have become more daring in their attacks that have targeted homes, schools and herders.
The President is also facing another headache over the raging controversy surrounding supply of fertiliser and maize seeds during the ongoing planting season.
The Agriculture and Trade ministries have been put on the spotlight over the entry and distribution of fake fertiliser and seeds in the country, a debacle that left farmers counting losses.
Leaders from across the political divide have now called on Dr Ruto to crack the whip on crooks involved in the distribution of fake fertiliser and seeds in the country.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei argued that selling of fake seeds and fertiliser should be declared a capital offence just like murder, saying in Nandi, they have experienced such challenges in a number of NCPB depots.
The legislator said individuals found culpable should be treated as terrorists because Kenyans risk dying of hunger due to sale of fake fertiliser and seeds.
He called out the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) for laxity asking them where they were when farmers bought fake fertiliser and seeds under the government’s subsidy programme .
“Someone is sleeping on the job. They should either shape up or ship out. What was Kebs doing? It is embarrassing. I am told that they are mixing donkey waste with murram and selling it to farmers,” claimed Mr Cherargei.
Bumula MP Jack Wamboka minced no words as he called on Agriculture CS Linturi to resign following the influx of fake subsidised fertiliser in NCPB depots.
Nonetheless, Mr Linturi has denied the existence of substandard State-issued subsidised fertiliser, maintaining the government is providing quality and standard fertiliser to farmers.
Kirinyaga Senator James Murango said the top officers at Kebs and Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) should tell the country how the fake fertiliser got into the country.
He said the ministries of Agriculture and Trade are at the centre of the ongoing fiasco because fertiliser is procured through KNTC while Kebs is supposed to carry out quality checks.
The ruling regime is also facing questions over the implementation of the competency-based curriculum (CBC), amid teachers’ shortage in junior secondary schools.
Last week, schools were also forced to close early owing to a financial crunch due to delays by the government to release money to schools.
In February, President Ruto fired a warning shot to his under-performing ministers and PSs to step up their game with the President expressing concerns about lacklustre performances within Cabinet.
The development followed a dress down by the President to his Cabinet on August 1, 2023.
Two months later, President Ruto reshuffled eight members of his Cabinet aiming to optimise performance and enhance delivery. However, not much has been achieved since then.
National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi said the opposition will remain outspoken on key issues facing Kenyans and will not accept to be silenced as a condition to support Azimio leader Raila Odinga’s bid for African Union Commission (AUC) chairman post.
“Members of the opposition have strongly come out to criticise the government on how it is handling various issues of doctors’ strike, confusion reigning on distribution of seeds and fertilisers as well as delayed disbursement of funds to schools,” he said.
