Nyoro's underwhelming statement on prior actions of the moment

Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro. [File Courtesy]

Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro made his long-awaited maiden statement, pitching focus on agro-economy as a major platform of his newly unveiled People’s Party.

And he chose a news-slow Monday to ensure he captured maximum attention of the nation as the major calendar event of the day.

His choice of solid green colour scheme, a short, easy-on-the-tongue People’s Party slogan and an attempt to parade a “face-of-Kenya” company of guests was inspired.

However, his performance on message content and delivery was underwhelming and disappointing for a person of his education, as a master's in economics and a leading voice of concerns affecting his age bracket, not to mention his two-term member of parliament for Kiharu.

Indeed, those who have followed Ndindi Nyoro's articulation of economic concerns of the day on radio, regular pressers and TV talk-show circuits would be forgiven for wondering if he was the author of the statement on economic priorities of the moment or if he outsourced the job to sloppy ghostwriters.

In my view, Mr Nyoro’s historic achievement in under-performance was in failure to speak to Kenya’s festering pain; Kenya is a hurting nation, especially his age demographic of unemployed, energetic, educated and restless youth.

This demographic looks up to one of their own like Nyoro to articulate the trauma of watching a government that rode to power on the frustrations of the “hustler” economy but which has turned out to have no clue at all what the priorities of the nation are.

Vision 2030 Medium Term Planning (MTPIII 2018-2022) Review report captured the economic priority pain points for Kenya as being an under-performing agriculture sector which holds the highest prospects for boosting family incomes for millions of rural households and creating jobs for the teaming battalions of educated and unemployed young people exiting the education pipeline every year.

 The priority actions to revamp this sector to play its role in lifting the GDP across the 10% per year bump milestone envisioned in Vision 2030 are irrigated agriculture and incentives to farmers. Thiba and Chemususu dams have been complete for some years now, but policy actions on distribution so the water reaches the farmers who need it to scale up production have been missing in the political rhetoric of the day, as is budget funnelling to the same.

The High Grand Falls dam on Tharaka Nithi-Kitui counties' boundaries, which is the cornerstone of Tana River Basin Development Master Plan’s under-exploited food security and agro-manufacturing value addition hub, has been suffocated in the courts by government tender-bandits for three years despite British government publicly pledging support to build the dam.

Kenya exports 2-3 million agro-sector jobs every year to Indonesia and Malaysia, from where we import hundreds of billions of edible vegetable oils each year, but which East African Industries used to produce locally before cashew nuts, ground nuts and palm oil farming collapsed during Moi -era corruption.

One suspects politicians and political parties avoid this topic because leading edible vegetable oil importers are leading political party financiers and members of the Presidential Economic Council.

The same is true of leading importers of finished leather products who suffocate revamping of value addition in the leather sector to protect lucrative supply tenders in the military and security sector market.

That these priority areas did not attract even a passing mention in a major statement of intent by the first political formation to unveil a political vision of the season was a major disappointment.

As the first person to unveil a statement of intent in this season’s election cycle, many expected a more robust, inspired and uplifting post-William Ruto dispensation vision, especially for his generation and for the country as at large from Ndindi. He missed the mark big time.

Those who used to imagine, by dint of his age and apparent courage to speak his mind on topical concerns on the economy, that they could trust his voice to speak for them because he had the privilege of access to platforms to articulate their concerns as a young man unfettered by old money and political networks must continue looking for an authentic voice.

Upon reflection overnight, it now seems like many had been taken in by Ndindi’s theatrics on his regular pressers, which he had deployed with efficiency in the last two years.

Upon reflection, among other highlights that emerged on Monday as distinctive Nyoroistic is legendary evasiveness, which he has perfected as a career-branding trait, acting like among abominable taboos he will never be caught violating is mentioning President William Kipchirchir Samoei arap Ruto by name.

For the whole time he spoke, he could not bring himself to violate the taboo of mentioning President William Ruto by name. He never does, even under the booming prodding on Jeff Koinange Live (JKL) talk shows. It seems it is easier to pull out Ndindi’s teeth than get him to mention that name in connection with grand corruption and bad governance.

It is instructive that Nyoro is among the most recognisable of a crop of youthful MPs in Mt Kenya who emerged out of the badly bungled 2017 photocopied ballots of Jubilee Party primaries. In fact, they earned a moniker of photocopy ballot nominees, which was infamously presided over by then Deputy President William Ruto.

Instead of the secure ballots the Jubilee Party had promised aspirants, it turned out they were photocopies of nomination forms illegally printed at the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) printing presses and which were distributed selectively. Dr Belio Kipsang was PS for education, and therefore accessing facilities was no brainer.

Ndindi was among the most vocal slate of MPs who emerged from these infamously bungled Jubilee Party primaries, and who then Deputy President William Ruto would weaponise into a loyal militia-like labour force he would deploy in a vicious attack on his then boss, Uhuru Kenyatta.

This labour force would be merciless in sinking Kenyatta’s triple-flagship but still-born Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) reforms, undermine the proposed Shareable Revenue Formula at the Senate, and eventually sink Uhuru's succession plans for late Raila Odinga.

This labour force was also largely effective and loyal to a man when it was summoned to pull off a vicious and unsentimental impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in late 2024.

Ndindi has caricatured a consistent image of a master of evasiveness at critical moments when accountability in public office, especially by elected officials, is most expected at the local constituency, Kikuyu community and national levels.

When the vote to impeach Riggy G came up for reckoning, in 2024 Ndindi conveniently absented himself from the floor of the house. He did not show up at Gachagua’s hour of need to comfort him or defend him.

Of course, he knew his UDA colleagues had teamed up with ODM counterparts to crucify Gachagua, but he wanted to be able to say it wasn’t s me when accountability comes knocking. Those impeachment comrades were at hand on his big day.

After a week of vehement criticism of 2O26/2027 on radio, TV talk shows and numerous pressers since February, Ndindi would conveniently disappear himself on budget vote day, finally cementing the perception that someone has been carefully curating him for some future special mission, which he must remain immaculately clean and without blemish, even clean from accountability at critical moments.

It is noteworthy that for all his supposed rants against government economic sins of omission and commission, government political attack and defence dogs never jump on him with fierce rhetoric normally spared for Riggy G, Kalonzo Musyoka and Dr Fred Matiang’i. They too seem to have adopted Ndindi's style of clever evasiveness.

To his credit, at least he has been consistent and seems to subscribe to the maxim that a good hand deserves another and loyalty is a virtue, especially in difficult circumstances his mentor is suffering at the moment.

Until the truthful man, Mr Riggy G himself, spilt the beans when he said William Ruto keeps a file on all his friends for a rainy day.