Former National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has said the country is not moving in the right direction and urged Kenyans to stand up and demand proper governance.
Duale lashed out at the planned restructuring of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) that could see 900 workers lose their jobs as an act of poor governance and should not go unchallenged.
On Wednesday, Kemsa chairperson Mary Mwadime said “all non-core staff members have been released to work from home as necessary consultations progress for the next 30 days."
In the move, only a small team of core operations Mwadime said, which the board chair did not specify, were maintained for avoidance of undue disruptions to service delivery and day to day operations.
She also said the National Youth Service (NYS) and other government employees will oversee medical supplies across the country.
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Sources hinted that current employees have been asked to re-apply for their jobs as the authority will be manned by NYS and the military, awaiting the hiring of new staff.
But Duale said Kemsa was established through an Act of Parliament and can be revoked through the same and such arbitrary move to restructure it was illegal and must be resisted.
"We have seen what happened at the Kenya Meat Commission, the other time we saw Kenya ports Authority, Kenya Pipeline being put into one organisation, this is despite these institutions operating on Acts of Parliament. Those moves are illegal and need to be challenged," said Duale.
The Garissa Town MP said the sacking of Kemsa team must not be allowed. Duale said together with the disregard of court orders, the country was moving in the wrong direction and Kenyans must demand that the rule of law be supreme.
"The 2010 Constitution and other statutes continue to be violated with abandon. We must put foot on the ground and say enough is enough, the law must be obeyed, the Judiciary's court orders must be respected, there is no other option," he said.
Once a close ally of President Uhuru Kenyatta, Duale has turned a harsh critic and yesterday said there was a state capture of Parliament and the Judiciary was the only one to save Kenyans from illegalities like it did on the Building Bridges Initiative's Constitution of Kenya (amendment) 2020 Bill that was 'being pushed down on Kenyans.
"We saw the act of moving KPC a company listed at the Nairobi Stock Exchange brought together under the Kenya Transport and Logistics Network (KTLN) without the government buying shares to fully own it, how do you merge a public-owned institution with other government-owned ones?" wondered Duale
In August last year, President Kenyatta, through an executive order, did a shakeup that saw the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC) oversee rail, pipeline and port operations, which will be brought together under the Kenya Transport and Logistics Network (KTLN).
