Former Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka.
Former Machakos Town MP Dr Victor Munyaka says he declined a low-key appointment by President William Ruto last month to avoid justifying alleged nepotism and tribalism in his government.
Dr Munyaka, Ruto’s close political ally turned critic, at the weekend said his appointment as Chairman of the Board of the Kenya Animal Genetic Resource Centre, was a mockery to the Kamba Community and the 13 years he spent campaigning for Ruto’s presidency.
"After dishing out all State jobs…, it would have been a big insult to the Kamba community had I accepted that appointment by the President. I'm not the one to fill up the leftover positions in government," Dr Munyaka said.
He recounted how he lost his parliamentary seat in the 2022 elections simply because he ran on the President's United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket, which was unpopular in the Ukambani region.
"When I defied the wishes of my community, I was punished at the ballot because of the people I was rooting for. I did not endure those political tribulations to be repaid through an appointment that only serves to justify nepotism and tribalism," he said.
Dr Munyaka, a veterinary doctor who served for three terms as MP for Machakos Town from 2007 to 2022, did not disclose which party he had moved to after severing political ties with President Ruto’s UDA party.
He spoke at the burial of Queen Mulwa, a sister of Nairobi businessman Kennedy Ngumbau Mulwa at Mutune village, in Kitui Central.
While declining the appointment, he said he only learned about it through a Kenya Gazette notice dated October 3, 2024, suggesting he had not been consulted before the announcement.
The former MP said, that after soul-searching, extensive consultations and in consideration of the current political climate that threatens the realisation of the government’s economic transformation agenda, he made the difficult decision to decline the appointment.
During the 2022 presidential campaigns, Dr Munyaka was the senior-most politician leading President Ruto’s UDA campaigns in Ukambani region. He lost his seat to Caleb Mule of Maendeleo Chap Chap.
Dr Munyaka, who was accompanied by former Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri, asked President Ruto to convene a national day of repentance and inter-denominational prayers before the year ends, to seek forgiveness for the mistakes of his government.
The two MPs said the Kenya Kwanza government was taking the country down a dangerous path of entrenching tribalism, corruption and limiting basic freedoms and therefore needed to pause and evaluate themselves against the expectations of Kenyans.
"When the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops spoke two days ago, I was shocked to hear President Ruto and the politicians around him dismissing them, instead of taking the criticism positively" said Dr Munyaka.
On his part, Mr Ngunjiri said as servants of God, the Catholic Bishops were carrying from God on behalf of the people of Kenya, and that it is the same church that helped Ruto ascend to the presidency.
Mr Ngunjiri said the Gikuyu, Embu, Meru and Akamba communities under the Gema umbrella will rally behind Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka in the 2027 elections to deny President Ruto a second term in office.
