President William Ruto says he fired former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi for boycotting work.
Speaking from Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri County on Monday evening ahead of a five-day tour of Mt Kenya Region, Dr Ruto repeated his earlier claim that Mr Muturi was unqualified for the attorney-general post but he pushed him to run the State Law Office.
“When I appointed him as the attorney-general, he was reluctant in taking the position saying he had not practiced law for a while,” said Dr Ruto.
“I persuaded him to take the job but I later realized he was incompetent and I decided to give him another docket in the Cabinet (Public Service).”
Justin Muturi sworn in as Attorney General
The claim by the Head of State has exposed how plum State jobs are dished out to political cronies at the expense of competence and qualifications.
The president, who spoke during a live radio and television interview broadcast on several Mt Kenya stations, said after Mr Muturi was moved to the public service docket, he started attacking the government and boycotting Cabinet meetings.
“I gave him a ministerial position but he decided to boycott cabinet meetings. Am I the one who sacked him or he is the one who refused to work?” posed Dr Ruto, adding that his sacking was not the end of the road and the former CS would not suffer since “he has a very good pension.”
Mr Muturi had served as the Speaker of the National Assembly for 10 years before his appointment to the Cabinet by the Kenya Kwanza administration.
Mr Muturi fell out with the Kenya Kwanza administration after his son was abducted and held incommunicado, only to be released after the intervention of Dr Ruto.
CS Muturi condemns abductions, demands answers over son's ordeal
He criticised the government, condemning the abduction of youths critical of President Ruto's government and demanding that the matter be discussed by the Cabinet.
Last week, Dr Ruto relieved Mr Muturi off his duties, appointing Mbere North MP Geoffrey Ruku to the position.
Though Mr Ruku and Mr Muturi hail from the same backyard in Embu County, the issue has not gone well with the majority of residents from Mt Kenya region, with President Ruto shouldering the blame of alienating leaders perceived to be aligned to impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
The purge on Mr Gachagua’s allies has been extended to Parliament where several MPs, including Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, were kicked out of plum Parliamentary Budget Committees.
Responding to the removal of Mr Nyoro as chair of the parliamentary committee, Dr Ruto said allies of Mr Gachagua were ousted to create positions for other legislators in the broad-based government.
“I have been mentoring Ndindi Nyoro and is a fine gentleman. He was a chairman of a parliamentary committee but their term expired and I am not sure if he (Nyoro) offered himself for re-election but you know it is the MPs who vote and not the president,” he said.
The broad based-government brought on board MPs allied to former prime minister Raila Odinga, some of whom have taken positions in the Cabinet and others in leadership parliamentary committees previously led by allies of Mr Gachagua.
This has been interpreted as betrayal to residents of Mt Kenya region where Dr Ruto received 47 per cent of his votes that propelled him to State House in the August 2022 General Election.
Critics of President Ruto have questioned why MPs loyal to the government were not given the position following the purge on Mr Gachagua’s allies.
In his response during the live Monday broadcast, Dr Ruto said Mt Kenya region dominated half of the parliamentary committees and upon the expiry of their term, they paved the way for MPs from other regions.
“MPs from Mt Kenya Region were chairing 12 parliamentary committees out of 25. Rift Valley MPs led nine committees. Mt Kenya and Rift Valley had to vacate a total of six seats so that others could get those seats,” explained Dr Ruto.
The president said he was grateful to Mt Kenya people for having supported him during the 2022 election and he would ensure that all the development projects he promised during the campaigns were implemented before 2027.
