President William Ruto on Monday visited former President Uhuru Kenyatta at his family home in Gatundu where they discussed several issues of national and regional importance.
The head of state lauded Kenyatta for facilitating a smooth power transition after the 2022 elections as well as the goodwill the former President has continued to demonstrate towards his fellow leaders and his support for Kenya’s ongoing progress and development.
Both leaders acknowledged the challenging global environment affecting many countries, including Kenya, caused by a complex interplay of factors: the disruptive effects of COVID-19, the war in Ukraine – which destabilised supply chains and led to high commodity prices, particularly for fertiliser and wheat – volatile currency markets, and a harsh macroeconomic climate.
They noted progress in addressing these adverse impacts, especially in reducing inflation to its lowest level in the past decade, significantly lowering food prices, stabilising the Kenyan shilling, and reducing interest rates.
President Ruto thanked President Kenyatta for laying a strong foundation that has enabled the government to implement key programs under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
The programs include transforming agriculture to ensure food security, achieving universal health coverage, providing affordable housing, empowering MSMEs, developing transport and communication infrastructure, last-mile electrification, and re-evaluating and reforming the Competency-Based Curriculum and the education sector in general, among other initiatives.
Both leaders agreed on the urgent need to accelerate these and other programmes to boost household incomes and create more opportunities for Kenyans.
They also underscored the importance of cultivating a nationalistic, patriotic, and harmonious working relationship among all Kenyans and stakeholders, including the three arms of government, religious leaders, civil society, and other partners, to ensure collective national stability and progress.
Additionally, the leaders appreciated the need to achieve broader and more inclusive political consensus in the governance of our country to accelerate the attainment of inclusive growth and fulfill the national development agenda.
They also acknowledged Kenya’s leading role in promoting peace and security in the East African region through diplomatic and peace support initiatives, which are crucial to resolving conflicts, restoring peace, and fostering regional stability.
President Ruto commended President Kenyatta for his patriotism and tireless contributions to peace-making efforts in the region.
President Ruto and President Kenyatta further called for the prompt resolution of the court matters regarding the constitution of the IEBC selection panel, to facilitate the appointment of commissioners.
The two leaders called on Kenyans, friends of Kenya, and international partners to support the candidacy of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for the position of Chair of the African Union Commission.
They also committed to maintaining regular engagements on matters of national importance alongside other leaders and stakeholders.
With the 2022 political wars now changing tact from verbal attacks to ‘near deployment’ of the most sophisticated weapons either side may possess, August 9 polls remain a battle between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, Dr. William Ruto.
The trading of political salvos has heightened since President Kenyatta made it public that he is backing the Opposition Chief Raila Odinga in the 2022 presidential race. Kenyatta is backing the man he beat in both 2013 and 2017 presidential polls but not his deputy William Ruto who backed him (Kenyatta) in those polls.
Ruto is feeling played and he is in the race to win it against Raila Odinga who he accuses of being President Uhuru’s project. Even pundits belittle their war as a mere imitation of a common scene in dirty politics but it is war and power is at play.
President Kenyatta has power in hands to make bold moves with it. He started with a hard hitting purge targeted on Ruto allies in the Cabinet, State Corporations, in the two parliaments and Jubilee Party where he kicked them out.
He has painted the picture perfectly that he can play smooth or even extend military. For instance, Nairobi County which was under Mike Mbuvi Sonko, a corrupt Ruto ally was put under the military man. Sonko was first made irrelevant when his tasks were transferred to Major General Mohamed Badi of Nairobi Metropolitan Services (MNS).
NMS Director, Major General Mohamed Badi [P/Courtesy]Kenyatta’s preference for the military guys has seen him deploy numbers of them in civilian functions so a lot can be expected. Deputy President is alleging that there is a ‘Deep State’ or System that can crash a small man’s dreams but he won’t allow them to steal his vote.
Ruto must be tough enough to resist anything outside the ordinary politics’ because he is facing an incumbent who has many options to respond to a disputed vote.
If Ruto’s backyard revolts in protest of the vote then Kenyatta who has suffered many legal setbacks in the run up to the coming polls will have to flex muscles. BBI was seen as his sinister way to amend the constitution, water down presidency and to allow Kenyatta, Moi and Odinga families have a firmer hand on the next government.
Analysts also argue that Rift Valley may choose to disrupt peace and shutting the busy Nairobi-Busia road that connects the larger Western region, Uganda major parts of East Africa.
A move like that may result into a serious territorial problem that may go beyond the reach of police thus pushing the president to deploy military he says are effective and his preference for a neat job.
While speaking to CNN in October 2018, Uhuru emphatically stated that he will not extend his term beyond 2022 but is now backing Odinga and his opponents are accusing him of planning to plant his successor.
And Ruto alleging that the state may be planning to rig the August vote in favor of Odinga is also a sign that no side will take a loss with humility. Kenya lost more than 1500 lives during the violence that followed the 2007 polls and the president who prefers the military for a neat job may rely on the same.
In the wise words of Carl von Clausewitz, “War is the continuation of politics by other means”. Whether the military is labeled with that scarlet word ‘political’ is not a concern but restoring law and order.
Studies have shown that arguments of whether military should be apolitical is confusing and counterproductive. Military has itself become a very intensely political institution especially in regimes where Commanders in Chief ruthlessly muzzle their opponents.
In May 2020, President Kenyatta picked a new team seen as the one he would prefer to take power when he retires after the August polls. The president made the move after making General Robert Kibochi the military boss. He created history by becoming the first non-infantry to be appointed to that position.
The Chief of Defense forces who has roots from Nakuru and Nyandarua counties will oversee the 2022 power transition together with Lt Gen Levi Franklin Mghalu (Vice-chief of Defence Forces), Kenya Army Commander Lt-Gen Walter Kopoitan Raria, Kenya Navy Commander Major-General Jimson Mutai and Kenya Air force Commander Francis Ogolla.
It’s four months to elections and already there are sharp rifts between the supporters of Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance and the President’s Azimio La Umoja Coalition. This also presents the August poll as a test to Kibochi, the first non-infantry man who made it to the military top against all odds.
Previous presidents preferred infantry men who are regarded as anchors of any land forces where it’s one of the teeth fighting units. Kenya Army produced Daudi Tonje, Jeremiah Kianga, Jackson Mulinge, Joseph Ndolo and Benard Penfold.
Others like General Samson Mwathathe and Joseph Karangi who are the only rare fete like Kabochi came were from Kenya Navy. Kibochi was picked for his extensive and great professionalism otherwise he would have retired.
He is also the first Chief of Staff at the Eastern Africa Standby Force who served with United Nations as Commander of the Kenyan contingent in the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone in 200-2001.
Right now his role includes working alongside other State agencies in safeguarding the country’s security and serving as regime protection.
The race to 2022 elections began taking shape after the infamous handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and the opposition chief Hon. Raila Odinga. Events that followed the handshake exposed Uhuru’s betrayal of his deputy, Dr. William Ruto whom he had promised to back upon expiry of his term.
Jubilee purge was the core of it all where the president directed that all politicians allied to his deputy be kicked from party leadership and parliamentary committees. The purge went on further with futile attempts to even kick out Ruto from the DP position or to push him resign but they only succeeded in uprooting him as the deputy leader of the ruling Jubilee party.
Ruto’s position was taken by little known Jimmy Angwenyi months after he had moved on and formed United Democratic Alliance (UDA Party) where he is the boss and has beaten Jubilee in many by-elections.
But despite the onslaughts targeting Ruto allied politicians and raw abuse of power where police and bodies like Kenya Revenue Authority and Ethics and Anti Corruption Commissions have been used to intimidate UDA politicians, the DP’s camp has interestingly attracted the president’s foot soldiers.
Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi is the latest top leader from the President’s backyard to join Kenya Kwanza Alliance where Ruto is a top presidential contender.
Muturi who recently joined Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka in Kenya Kwanza had received the president’s backing prior to his coronation as Mt. Kenya Spokesperson in May last year.
His coronation was touted as a cultural event but had a huge impact on power and succession politics in the President Uhuru’s turf. The endorsement as GEMA spokesman boosted his political ambitions and he has carried it all to the Deputy President’s camp where he can negotiate for a running mate position.
After 9th August, Uhuru will be representing history and we must look to the future when we make decisions. – Justin Muturi pic.twitter.com/fi6xNS6hfN
It gave him all the guts to cast his political net beyond his Mt Kenya East region and try to forge the next direction for politics in the entire Mt. Kenya region.
“The idea is to be able to reach out to everybody and bring in as much as possible through persuasion, consultation and discussion. I am capable of carrying out the responsibilities elders will bestow on me” Muturi said.
And more interestingly, even Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru who was initially opposed to Muturi’s endorsement as the regions kingpin had shifted her allegiance from President Uhuru Kenyatta whom she dump for DP William Ruto.
They have tried to intimidate Waiguru through attempts to revive her corruption cases but with no success. She told off the president in one of the dailies that she has moved on and is comfortable in UDA, leaving Azimio old guards to settle for washed out politicians like Martha Karua and Kitui’s Charity Ngilu who is likely to lose her gubernatorial seat.
But even prominent politicians from the President’s home county of Kiambu have dumped him for William Ruto. Hon. Moses Kuria of Gatundu South is in Kenya Kwanza, Kiambu Women rep Gathoni wa Muchomba dumped Uhuru’s Jubilee Party for DP’s UDA, former Kiambu governors Ferdinand Waititu and William Kabogo are all in Ruto’s camp. Kiambu speaker and more than twenty MCAs have also expressed their support for UDA and Ruto’s bid.
The situation is the same in neighboring Murang’a County where Senator Irungu Kang’ata who is poised to be the next governor is dining with Ruto. The vocal Kandara MP Alice Wahome is with Ruto and so is Hon. Ndindi Nyoro of Kiharu Constituency.
Nyeri Governor Kahiga Mutahi, Nyeri County Assembly Speaker and a host of MCAs have publicly expressed their support for DP’s UDA party and his bid for presidency in the August polls.
A top Kenya Kwanza principal and ANC Party Leader H.E Musalia Mudavadi has joked that Uhuru will one day wake up and find that his bodyguards have deserted him.
Former Jubilee Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju has been unveiled as the Executive Director of the Azimio la Umoja secretariat.
His appointment was announced on Wednesday, April 6, by the former prime minister Raila Odinga who is Azimio’s Presidential flag bearer.
Tuju’s new role will be to coordinate Azimo coalition parties and also to lead the strategic and program teams to ensure the coalition led and financed by President Uhuru Kenyatta win the August 9 General Election with Odinga as the president.
“….Hon Tuju has decades of experience in politics and government, having served as Member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister and Jubilee Party Secretary General,” a statement by Raila Odinga’s team read in part.
Tuju who is a former Rarieda MP and Cabinet Secretary without portfolio stepped down from his role at Jubilee SG in February to seek an elective position but has ended up as Odinga’s subordinate.
But he has not declared the exact elective seat he is interest in and where he is going to vie. Tuju had a stunning record in his one term as Rarieda Mp but lost the seat after falling out with Odinga in the run up to 2007 elections.
The former MP made the declaration during the Jubilee’s National Delegates Convention (NDC) meeting held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Nairobi, on February 26.
Tuju was replaced by Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni in the same meeting where President Uhuru Kenyatta pleaded with Odinga to give the former SG political support to prevail in the coming elections.
Uhuru is the leader of Jubilee party which is one of the founding members of the Azimio la Umoja coalition that has the settled on Odinga as its presidential candidate.
Tuju and Odinga have not been seeing eye to eye since they fell out in 2005 when they both served as Cabinet Ministers in President Mwai Kibaki’s government.
Raila Odinga who served as the Roads minister then claimed that Tuju would not have made it to Parliament without his support.
They the remained arch-rivals but tensions between them eased when Odinga and President Kenyatta made peace through the infamous handshake in March 2018.
President Uhuru Kenyatta used his address to Mt Kenya leaders yesterday to make a strong pitch for ODM leader Raila Odinga’s presidential bid and explain his beef with Deputy President (DP)William Ruto.
In no-holds-barred speech at Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri County, the President who has bitterly fallen out with a deputy who he only referred to as “that man”, warned Mt Kenya region to shun Ruto in the August 9 polls.
For the first time, the President revealed that he fell out with the DP after the 2017 General Election when he (Ruto) insisted that they should not negotiate with the their Opposition rivals to prevent violence despite loss of lives in parts of the country “because we have the government”.
Campaign megaphones
Uhuru, who mainly spoke in his Kikuyu vernacular, painted the DP as corrupt, selfish, greedy for power, impatient, dishonest and enemy of the region and one who has been using ill-gotten wealth to compromise the Church to help him exploit the ignorance of youth who are not conversant with the country’s social and political history.
Without mentioning his name, the President accused Ruto of blackmail by insisting that they share government equally after their first victory in 2013 to the exclusion of other Kenyans.
Uhuru said Ruto has been abusing the Bible and found support from Church leaders who have been reaping big from stolen government money through harambees and generous offertory.
“The church leaders, stop deceiving our people. Tell them the truth. But don’t just come here, just because you have received stolen money, you come here to lie to us? You can’t come here, give people stolen money and then you want to tell us where he should go while holding the Bible. You are then one headed to hell, not the people,” the President said.
Speaking today at Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri County during a meeting with the region’s elected leadership and representatives of various special interest groups, President Kenyatta said peace was a prerequisite for development.
Ruto and his allies were also accused of using the Church to advance their interests and turning pulpits into campaign megaphones.
“The money that you are eating was the Sh3 billion supposed to be building a dam in Elgeyo Marakwet, so that children of God could get water to drink and farm. It’s pocketed then you come to the pulpit and donate Sh2 million and you sing to us halleluyah. You better receive hard earned Sh100 than Sh2 million that is from stolen money, yet one has denied someone justice,” he added.
Uhuru revealed that while he was keen on ending the 2018 post-poll violence that claimed several lives and saw destruction of businesses, during the protests by the National Super Alliance leaders ,who were claiming that their victory had been stolen, Ruto was pushing him to take a hardline position that would have led to more deaths and destruction “because we had the government”.
“How could I stay put? I have officers manning my gate, the people telling me, too, have officers, the one at the kiosk doesn’t have police. Then I am being told to stay put. If I did, am I the one who is suffering or the one in Mathare? Someone was telling me to stay put because we have the government,” he told thousands of attentive delegates drawn from the 10 Mt Kenya counties.
“No one would have raided my house, the ones who were advising me, no one would have raided their homes but the ones who elected me, who is guarding them,?” he posed.
To paint DP as hypocritical and dishonest, Uhuru said that during the 2013 elections when he teamed up with Ruto and his regions delivered more votes, the DP demanded half the government and he was forced to give in to “the blackmail”.
The President also revealed that despite his public denials, Ruto was well aware of the events leading to his March 2018 Handshake with Raila.
“When I was going to Harambee House to meet Raila, the DP was the last man I spoke to and he was in agreement,” the President said.
Uhuru highlighted his achievements for the Mt Kenya region, adding that the gains can only be consolidated in the hands of Raila to whom was keen to hand over power.
Uhuru climaxed his address with a plea to the delegates to support Raila and not Ruto who was “too risky for the country”, at least for now “but should he (Ruto) reform” he would be supported in subsequent elections.
Political direction
The meeting was part of the President’s campaign to seduce the populous region in support of Raila who is his preferred successor.
Ruto has also put up a spirited fight to lure the populous Mt Kenya region which is expected to provide the critical swing vote in the August General Election.
“I plead with you, let us support that man (Raila), push him so that he can succeed. And even that other man, if he will reflect and change his ways afterwards, we will support him thereafter because I have no problem with him, but for now, let it go as it’s supposed to (in favour of Raila),” Uhuru told the crowd that responded in the affirmative.
He indicated that he will be traversing the region, campaigning for Raila.
“Retired President Mwai) Kibaki left to me an economy of Sh5 trillion but today, and the person to whom I will bequeath the government, and he is that person you have mentioned (after crowd shouted Raila), I will leave to him an economy worth Sh13 trillion,” he said.
Perhaps to demonstrate that all was over with his deputy who has since founded the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and hit the campaign trial, the President celebrated a temporary interruption of his speech with a song by Kikuyu musician Peter Kigia dubbed “Umuthi ndoiga reke tumanwo”, meaning today I have decided let’s part ways completely”.
The meeting meant to give the region political direction was attended by Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Chief Administrative Secretaries, sitting and former governors, MPs, MCAs, aspirants, cultural and church leaders, professionals, women and youth from the 10 counties that form the Mt Kenya voting bloc.
And in what pundits were quick to interpret as a signal on the choice of Raila’s running mate, Uhuru heaped praises on Agriculture minister Peter Munya, crediting him for reviving the agricultural sector, and severally asked if he should continue with the “good work”.
“Do you want Munya to continue with that work or you want to bring back those criminals? Shouldn’t he continue? Or what do you want,?” he posed amidst acclamation from the delegates.
The Sagana III meeting came on the same week when Uhuru’s Jubilee Party and Raila’s Orange Democratic Movement are expected to coalesce and endorse the opposition leader as their presidential candidate under the Azimio La Umoja umbrella, with a joint rally planned in Nairobi on Sunday.
Politician Jimmy Kibaki, who was present in Sagana, said Uhuru’s meeting could hurt Ruto’s fortunes.
“He addressed his people of Mt Kenya directly, and in a very eloquent and fatherly manner. He gave us the background of his current political position, as well as the direction the people should take. We have listened to him, and we will follow his advice. We appeal to him to spend more time in the region and ensure everything is done to make sure his desires come true in the upcoming elections,” he said.
Uhuru accused the DP of taking advantage of youth vulnerability due to lack of jobs, as well as lack of knowledge on the country’s past, to mislead them to support him.
For instance, he said that during the past years, Mt Kenya region was economically stable because it had tea, coffee and pyrethrum and dairy farming thriving but bad leadership ruined everything and even when the DP and his allied ministers served in the ministry of Agriculture, it only made matters worse.
“Those born from 2000 and below have seen development but they expect more and it’s okay. But they should also ask their parents what has been achieved, where have we come from? Ask them, they were educating children using tea, coffee and dairy pay, what happened and where did the money go that today we are in problems?
“Today you are being told that you lack because you are hustlers, but I swear to God that one day you will know the truth.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta has continuously lost various legal battles bringing into sharp focus the role of the Attorney General and whether he is giving the head of state sound advice.
From the loss of cases on the attempt to change the Constitution, by the government, through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), to the cases touching on appointment of judges, rejected by President Kenyatta, the President’s chief legal advisor has had one to many losses.
Other than losing the cases, the government has been put on the spot for failing to obey court orders.
In fact, a judge recently rebuked the government for ignoring to obey court orders and lashed out at the Attorney General Kihara Kariuki for not being assertive in advising the State to comply with court decisions.
It was not the first time this has happened. Early this year, Employment and Labour Relations Court judge James Rika said the courts have been left to look like toothless bulldogs whose judgements and orders “are not worth the papers they are written on”.
“It is an extremely shocking and bold admission of contempt, coming from a Government Agency, which deposes to be acting on the advice of the Attorney-General of Kenya,” the Judge said.
Justice Rika made the remarks while delivering a ruling in which the director general of the National Employment Authority (NEA) has ignored a court order directing him to issue an employment agency Al Hujura, its registration certificate. The judge put the blame on the Attorney General’s door.
“The Attorney-General, a prominent and respected Lawyer, who has served the Judiciary as an Appellate Judge, ought to be more assertive in advising the Government to obey decisions of the Court, to avert the drift into chaos and death of the rule of law which the Government appears to have taken. One cannot say that he or she is waiting to be heard on Appeal, before complying with a valid Judgment of a Court, which has neither been reviewed, set aside or stayed,” the Judge said.
Different courts in the country have declared various decisions by the government as illegal and unconstitutional. Other processes by government either appointments in the public office or contracts have been declared null and void by failing to follow due legal process.
From the appointment of heads of parastatals, cabinet secretaries and principal secretaries, name them.
It was only recently that the Government of Kenya lost to Somalia in a maritime dispute at the International Court of Justice, a decision which President Kenyatta later dismissed vowing not to cede even an inch of Kenya’s territory.
In a scathing attack to President Kenyatta just before he retired, former Chief Justice David Maraga said the government cannot demand of its citizens the obedience of the law, if those in authority were disobeying court orders with abandon.
“It greatly undermines the rule of law for the government to act in defiance of court orders and this pattern puts at great risk our constitutional democracy because it risks the contagion of lawlessness,” said Maraga.
Kariuki fought back defending the Executive saying it has always and remained committed to implementing all court orders, to the extent lawfully practicable, save for instances where there are appropriate stay orders and pending appeals.
The Attorney General, instead shifted the blame on the former CJ saying he has failed to cultivate the spirit of constructive consultation and has resorted to “grandstanding and populist brinkmanship, with the Executive as his bogeyman.”
Last week, another former CJ- Willy Mutunga- expressing displeasure at disobedience of court orders, urged judges to down their tools as a protest.
Mutunga, who has previously accused the government of disobeying court orders, also announced his plans to head to Canada to accompany lawyer Miguna Miguna back home.
He said his decision was a protest move against the government which he accused of infringing on the lawyer’s rights as a citizen of the country.
There is also the impasse over the failure by the President to appoint six judges as recommended by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
And instead of advising the President to heed the directive, Kariuki has opted to appeal against the decision, yet as pointed out by lobby group Katiba Institute, Kariuki was part of the team that interviewed and endorsed the same judges for appointment in 2019.
Meeting at the White House, Biden and the Kenyan president promised to work together on climate change and ending violence on the Horn of Africa, although there appeared to be no headway on Kenya’s hopes on a trade deal.
Biden announced that the United States would immediately donate another 17 million doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the African Union, on top of 50 million doses already sent.
“As a continent we are lagging well behind the rest of the world in terms of being able to vaccinate our people,” Kenyatta told Biden in the Oval Office.
“So any additional support like the president just mentioned is greatly welcomed and we look forward to that continued partnership,” he said.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is received at the The White House in Washington DC by his American counterpart, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Biden has vowed a leadership role for Washington on vaccines at a time that infections remain stubbornly high in parts of the United States where people refuse widely available shots.
Most of sub-Saharan Africa has vaccination rates in the single digits, at the mercy of foreign donations due to the lack of indigenous production and prohibitive costs of mass purchases.
Kenyatta is the first African leader to visit Biden’s White House amid a slowdown of travel and summits as a Covid-19 precaution.
“I’m committed to further elevating our ties with Kenya and nations across Africa as a whole. But Kenya is the key,” Biden said.
‘Doing a good job’
Biden has promised a new focus on democracy after the courting of autocratic leaders by his predecessor Donald Trump — who also made no secret of his lack of interest in Africa.
Long seen as a pillar of stability, Kenya was wracked by political violence including after 2017 elections but Kenyatta has since made peace with his once-bitter rival Raila Odinga.
Kenyatta, who has vowed to fight corruption, came days after the Pandora Papers investigation which found that Kenyatta, together with six family members, owned a network of 11 offshore companies, one valued at $30 million.
Biden did not address the allegations during the brief appearance before reporters but called for “strengthening financial transparency” and praised Kenyatta’s record.
“I want to thank you for your leadership in defending the peace, security and democratic instincts of the region and your country,” Biden said. “You’re doing a good job.”
Aligned on climate, shift on trade
Kenya is the current president of the UN Security Council and in that capacity as pushed to end fighting in neighbouring Ethiopia, where hundreds of thousands of people are facing extreme hunger.
Kenya is a longstanding US security partner, working closely in another neighbor, Somalia, in combatting Al-Shabaab jihadists.
Kenyatta said he was speaking to Biden about the “fight against terrorism” but also about climate change, ahead of a high-stakes UN conference in Glasgow next month.
“Our country, our continent is the least in terms of emitting but pays the highest price,” Kenyatta said, welcoming Biden’s commitment on climate change since taking over from Trump.
Kenyatta also made a pitch on trade. The Trump administration began talks with Kenya on a free-trade deal; little progress was made but Biden has shown scant sign even of restarting talks amid a growing domestic backlash against big-ticket accords.
Trade “is vital not only in terms of further entrenching American interests on the continent but also in helping us achieve our social-economic agenda,” Kenyatta said.
President Kenyatta, who is on an official visit to the US, is the first African Head of State to be hosted by President Joe Biden since assuming office on 20th January this year.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Biden administration would be “working closely” with Kenya on trade but acknowledged: “We are thinking through how we approach foreign trade.”
Kenya is worried as the landmark African Growth and Opportunity Act, which lets sub-Saharan nations with good governance export without duties to the vast US market, is set to expire in 2025.
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday made history by becoming the first African Head of State to be hosted by President Joe Biden at the White House since the American leader took over office in January this year.
At the historic meeting, President Biden announced a US Government donation of 17 million more Covid-19 vaccines to the African Union.
“And we’re continuing our shared fight against Covid. The United States has donated 2.8 million doses of vaccine to Kenya as part of the 50 million doses we’ve donated to the African Union (AU).
“And I’m proud to announce that—today, that we’re making an additional historic one-time donation of 17 more million doses of J&J vaccine to the AU, and we’re going to be sending some more of these by the end of the year to Kenya,” President Biden said.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is received at the The White House in Washington DC by his American counterpart, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President Kenyatta thanked the American Government for the continued assistance to Kenya and the African continent in the fight against Covid-19, and welcomed the additional donation of 17 million doses to the AU noting that Africa was struggling to access adequate vaccines.
“Let me also take this opportunity, through you, to thank your government and the people of the United States. During this very difficult time, the United States has done its best to step up in terms of not only helping Kenya, but the African continent in general, with regard to access to vaccines.
“I’m happy to hear your new announcement of that increase, because as many of you will know, as a continent, we are lagging well behind the rest of the world in terms of being able to vaccinate our people.
“So, any additional support, like the President (Joe Biden) has just mentioned, is greatly welcomed, and we look forward to that continued partnership,” President Kenyatta said.
Besides Covid-19, the leaders also discussed the global fight against terrorism, climate change as well as trade and investment among other subjects of mutual interest to Kenya and the US.
On the war against terrorism, President Kenyatta applauded the US for being a strong partner for Kenya.
“We’re also very closely partnering, especially in regard to the fight against terrorism globally. The United States has been a very strong partner to Kenya in that particular fight,” he said.
The Kenyan leader said his country had made tremendous progress in climate change adaptation and mitigation, and welcomed the US back to the Paris Agreement.
“We are also keenly very grateful with his strong position, especially with regard to climate change. This is an area where Kenya has made tremendous progress in her own right and where we are firmly committed to the Paris Agreement, and we’re glad to see the United States has now rejoined,” President Kenyatta said.
He said Kenya was keen on deepening its trade and investment relations with the US by investing in partnerships that promote American business interests while advancing the country’s socioeconomic transformation agenda.
“Keenly also wanting to engage, as we have been already, with the President on the issue of trade and investment between our two countries. This, I believe, is vital not only in terms of further entrenching American interests on the continent, but also in helping us also achieve our socio-economic agenda,” President Kenyatta said.
President Kenyatta, who is on an official visit to the US, is the first African Head of State to be hosted by President Joe Biden since assuming office on 20th January this year.
On his part, President Biden hailed Kenya’s steadfastness in safeguarding regional stability and advancing democracy saying the Kenya-US partnership was key in addressing global peace and security challenges.
“And, you know, the US-Kenya strategic partnership is essential—we both, I think, believe is essential to addressing key regional and global challenges.
“And I want to thank Kenya for your thank you for your leadership in defending the peace, security, and democratic instincts of the region and your country. You’re doing a heck of a job,” President Biden said.
The White House meeting was a culmination of President Kenyatta’s successful official visit of the US during which he chaired his first United Nations Security Council meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York.
President Kenyatta was accompanied to the White House by Cabinet Secretaries Raychelle Omamo (Foreign Affairs) and Betty Maina (Trade) as well as Trade PS Johnson Weru and Kenya’s Ambassador to Washington Lazarus Amayo.
Reports by Citizen Weekly indicated that the differences between the Head of State and his Deputy are not political as many people perceive, but the course of their rift is economical after the two disagreed on the financial firm that was to be picked to roll out Safaricom’s multibillion Fuliza program after the 2017 general elections.
Inside sources privy to what transpired revealed that President Kenyatta and DP Ruto suggested different banks sponsor the Fuliza deal which gives room to Mpesa users to get an overdraft even if their balance is insufficient.
The Second in command reportedly fronted Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) to roll out the program while President Kenyatta together with Baringo Senator Gideon Moi fronted the National Commercial Bank of Africa (NCBA) bank that eventually bagged the deal despite an earlier agreement that KCB would also be included in the Safaricom’s program.
This raw deal saw Deputy President William Ruto lose billions of money he would have bagged as commissions if KCB was to be included in the fuliza program.
Reports by Citizen Weekly further indicated that DP Ruto had been made to believe that he was part of the deal during the 2017 electioneering period.
If the deal went on as planned Safaricom, Kenya Commercial Bank, and NCBA Bank would have introduced the payments interface on M-Pesa which allows customers pre-authorization of transactions for payments to be made later.
The publication further revealed that DP Ruto spared all his energy to campaign for President Kenyatta to be re-elected with the hope of bagging the billions from the Fuliza deal the cash he was planning to use in his 2022 presidential ambitions, little did he know that he was only being used to help in Uhuru’s campaigns.
President Uhuru Kenyatta failed to secure loan from France to finance the construction of a railway line linking Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to Nairobi’s central business district during his last week’s visit to Paris, delaying the €128 million (Sh16.3 billion) infrastructure plan.
Kenya was expected to ink the deal during President Kenyatta’s two day visit but Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said the trip did not bag the deal, which was expected to fund the construction of the five kilometre metre-gauge line linking the airport to standard-gauge rail (SGR) terminus in Syokimau.
“No agreements were signed, we just reviewed progress towards the launch of the project,” CS Macharia said.
The president’s previous visits to the French capital had signaled that an agreement on the loan would have been closed by June 30 when he was back in France.
Failure to secure the loan now spells doom for the project that was initially set for August according to the talks between French President Emanuel Macron and President Kenyatta in March 2019. A number of French investors also signed deals worth over Sh300 billion when Macron visited Nairobi but French-Chinese rivalry over the railway deal has continued to play out.
Kenya’s standard gauge railway built by the Chinese [p/courtesy]The Chinese Embassy in Nairobi hurriedly took Kenyan government officials, Mps and journalist on a tour of the SGR project just days after Macron left Kenya- a PR exercise that was meant to pull Kenya out of the deal with France.
The JKIA-Nairobi city centre railway line is part of an ambitious plan to ease congestion in Nairobi and shorten the time taken between the CBD and JKIA which handles more than 11.7 million domestic and international fliers in a year.
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is 20km from the capital’s central business district, a distance that should take less than 30 minutes but takes up to 2 hours due to heavy traffic on the busy Mombasa Road.
But tender wars have also derailed the construction of the linking rail and the deal that was expected to be signed between Kenyatta and Macron.
The National Treasury had read mischief over the secret procurement of a consortium of five French firms including Egis group that had lined up to build the new railway line on the back of a financing deal between France and commercial lender BPI France Assurance Export.
Other french firms eyeing the construction deal include Sogea-Satom, Alstom, Thales and Transdev but the Egis was dropped for failing to comply with the law.
China which provided about Sh500 billion in loans for the construction of the SGR line from Mombasa to Nairobi is also interested in the deal despite critics raising concerns over Kenya’s ballooning debts and Chinese loans. They are hell bent to ensure that Kenya’s deal with France does not see the light of the day.
The national treasury has allocated close to Sh1 billion in gratuity payments for President Uhuru Kenyatta and the 416 MPs when the current Jubilee administration’s term comes to an end in August 2022.
Budget estimates for the financial year 2021-22 tabled in Parliament show that gratuities to the retired presidents and MPs will be hiked by Sh844 million. President Kenyatta is set to pocket Sh72 million in gratuity payment as records indicate that the bill will increase to Sh79.2 million by June 30, 2025.
The Treasury has also dramatically increased allocation for the retired presidents’ pension from the current Sh34.4 million to Sh42.42 million starting July next year.
The increase translates to a monthly pension of Sh666,700, the amount that former president Mwai Kibaki enjoys and will also be due to President Uhuru according to the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act, 2003.
Retired presidents are entitled to fuel, entertainment, a house allowances and a monthly pension set at 80% of his pensionable salary, which is equivalent to 60% of Sh1.44 million monthly pay to the sitting president.
They also enjoy four cars, medical cover, an office, two personal assistants, secretaries, messengers, drivers, bodyguards – all paid by struggling taxpayers.
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The benefits for the deputy president and other designated state officers including the two speakers will increase by Sh150 million and raise the payout to Sh1.1 billion as the next financial year’s payout is poised to increase by Sh40 billion.
This will cater for the gratuity for retired Chief Justice David Maraga and other state officers who retired this year with monthly pensions for senior military officers also set to increase to Sh16 billion in 2022 from this year’s Sh10.7 billion.
The revised allocations will push the overall benefits to a retired president above the salaries and allowances offered to top chief executives of State agencies like KenGen, Kenya-Re and Kenya Power.
The allocation comes amid a heated debate on whether Uhuru’s term could be extended beyond August 2022 though the president has maintained that he will go home upon expiry of his term.
State and public officers have different types of pension schemes. MPs and public servants for instance have their own pension scheme, which is contributory. But taxpayers shoulder 100% pension paid to civil servants – teachers, the police, and military since their perks are not contributory.
The President and Deputy President are the only state officers exempt from contributory schemes by virtue of their offices but offices like Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and heads of directorates are on gratuity.
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) wants the government to stop the planned privatization of the loss making Kenya Meat Commission (KMC). KDF through the Ministry of Defence has written to the Privatization Commission to remove the meat processing enterprises from the list the Cabinet approved for sale.
KMC was transferred to the KDF in September 2020 following an executive-order from President Uhuru Kenyatta to bolster its operations after the state had previously announced plans to sell it following the formation of a task force to lead a privatization plan.
“We received a letter from the Ministry of Defence asking that we remove the Kenya Meat Commission from the list of the privatization programme,” Privatisation Commission chief executive Joseph Koskey said.
Government had pumped Sh80 million into the cash-trapped KMC in the last financial year but KDF is also set to inject cash to revive the dying meat plant after the Treasury allocated Sh4 billion under the supplementary budget.
Agriculture CS Peter Munya [p/courtesy]KMC is listed with other 26 parastatals earmarked for sale to strategic investors as the government resorts to privatisation to make troubled entities like KMC economically viable.
The move comes after the Law Society of Kenya also filed a petition in court challenging the legality of the transfer of KMC to KDF arguing that the responsibilities of KMC could only be transferred after amending its Act.
Agriculture CS Peter Munya directed Livestock PS Harry Kimtai to facilitate the transfer of KMC to KDF following the president’s order but in February the court directed the ministry and the Attorney-General to regularise the transfer of the KMC to the military within three months.
Justice Anthony Mrima in her ruling stated that the transfer contravened Article 10 of the Constitution since there was no public participation.
In November last year, Interior CS Fred Matiang’i alluded that KMC had met the bulk of debts owed to livestock farmers and other suppliers since the controversial KDF takeover.
