Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua says Mt Kenya deserves the plum state appointments it is getting from President William Ruto since it voted overwhelmingly for the current administration.
“You people have seen how our people are featuring in the Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and soon-to-come envoys. We are not fools. We are also not clever. We are in between there... to be able to scoop powerful slots for our people,” he said in Murang’a yesterday.
Speaking when he commissioned the Sh261 million Murang’a Technical Training Institute branch in the outskirts of Maragua town, Mr Gachagua said a united Mt Kenya under one political command point will benefit in the sharing of the national cake and chart future political programmes.
“Listen to the names being read in the appointments made. All Mt Kenya is represented. We have not arrived yet. We will push for more benefits and want all in one political wing in that journey,” he said.
A case filed in court by, among others, the Law Society of Kenya but later dismissed by a judge had argued that the Principal Secretary nominees were skewed in favour of two regions in the country and that the list did not represent the face of Kenya.
Referring to the case, Mr Gachagua said the appointment of PSs had been challenged in court “on grounds that we have many of us in it”.
“What is it all about and we delivered this government? Where is the problem getting a share commensurate with our votes?” he asked.
“Those talking out of turn about Mt Kenya on TV are clueless and need to hit the ground to identify with what the commoner has as a priority.”
He told Mt Kenya residents that they “are lucky to have Dr William Ruto as president “since, in the sharing table of the national cake, he told us to pick the prime slots and leave the rest up for grabs for him to distribute”.
He said things are looking up for Mt Kenya in Dr Ruto’s government “because he is nice, trustworthy and good-hearted to a point he is rewarding us without any written negotiated pact”.
The DP asked Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party loyalists in Mt Kenya to join the government “to help locals grab maximum benefits”.
Governor Irungu Kang’ata, Deputy Governor Stephen Munania and host MP Mary Wa Maua attended the function, but most other Murang’a County elected leaders were missing.
Mr Gachagua also presided over the Maragua Education Endowment Fund at Thaara Primary School. He said the government is now functional following the appointment of accounting officers in the ministries.
"Dr Ruto has already sanctioned the employment of 3,000 technical trainers in January. We are now biding our time and by February, we will hit the ground running with the president to directly engage you on service delivery," he said.
Other politicians who attended the function are Naivasha MP Jane Kihara and Kieni MP Mr Njoroge Wainaina. They all pledged allegiance to Mr Gachagua as the regional kingpin.
The DP said all Mt Kenya Members of Parliament will be given a deadline to build senior secondary school classes and workshops using the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF).
"We will summon those on our side to a meeting and set deadlines for them," he said. "We will lord over them to fast-track infrastructure development so that the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) can get to its desired trail."
Vocational training institutes
He blasted retired President Uhuru Kenyatta for sabotaging technical and vocational education training institutes and hurrying the implementation of CBC.
He said that Mr Kenyatta had in 2018 suspended funding of TVETs on grounds that it was Dr Ruto who was pushing for their implementation.
"They punished our children in need of acquiring skills with the excuse of fighting Dr Ruto. Yet, Dr Ruto was not a student or a trainer... the very things that made him have a major disconnect with the ground," he said.
He dismissed Mr Sifuna, who has ridiculed the fund, "as foolish for advising his followers to borrow from the fund but never pay back since there is no legal recourse for defaulting".
Mr Gachagua said it is "by God's grace that Azimio did not win the August 9 General Election if that is the kind of mentality they would have brought into governance".
