Ruto to Kindiki: I've been lonely, I need your voice and intellect

President William Ruto hugging his deputy Kithure Kindiki during the swearing ceremony in Nairobi on November 1, 2024. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

President William Ruto yesterday disclosed how for the last two years he has “had no assistant” to help propagate government projects and programmes.

Giving hints on why he severed ties with his estranged and now former deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, the Head of State poured his frustrations saying that he needed the new Deputy President Kithure Kindiki’s intellect and voice to popularise the government’s projects.

“Today, we have more teachers. We have a new funding model that is student-based, which we are refining to make sure that no child in Kenya is left behind. My dear Prof Kindiki, I need your voice, I need your intellect to help me and to help members of our Cabinet, to profile the things we are doing.”

He added, “I have almost become a lonely voice in the Executive, especially in the presidency, speaking about our projects, speaking about our programmes, elaborating on what we are doing.”

He added “You are eloquent, my brother, you are intelligent, I am confident that you will do that which I have missed for the last two years. I know you will.”

Ruto listed some of the programmes that have been running and suggested that they were never explained to Kenyans such as the fertiliser subsidy programme, expansion of irrigation projects, higher education funding model, the turnaround of the Kenya Power and KenGen.

“We need your voice and we need the voice of those of us in the Executive to provide leadership and to see to it that indeed we achieve what we wrote into our Constitution,” he said.

Ruto’s lamentations mirrored the frustrations of former President Uhuru Kenyatta against him.

Uhuru had then lamented that he was left to enumerate government projects while Ruto was on top of car sunroof’s conducting campaigns.

 “Work is not done from the top of vehicles while campaigning but through inspecting projects,” Uhuru said.

And in yet another pointer on why he fell out with Gachagua, Ruto urged his new deputy to keep referring to his oath of office and execute his responsibilities as the Deputy President to serve Kenyans and not his family, village, community and his region.

Serve the nation

“As I told principal secretaries and cabinet secretaries, and as I tell every public servant who has a responsibility, who has a duty, who has the honour to serve our nation, let us serve the people of Kenya and the Republic of Kenya. We are not here to serve ourselves, our families, our communities, our regions or our villages.

“Serve without affection and without fear so that the people of Kenya can know that public servants, all of us elected, appointed in different categories, shall know that we have one nation, one country, one people, and we are called upon by the Constitution of Kenya to serve them without bias, without fear, without favour,” Ruto said.

President Wilkliam Ruto chats with Deputy President Kithure Kindiki after a swearing in luncheon at State House Nairobi on Nov 1, 2024. [PCS]

He maintained that ‘‘no part of Kenya, no community and no region will be left behind’’ in his administration even as he presented Kindiki as the consummate champion of the country’s constitutional dispensation, broad-based national governance framework and the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda.

“This moment calls for an individual who takes pride in a job well done, in and is humble enough to be a loyal servant of the people, and who is selfless enough to reach out and mobilise the entirety of government towards delivering for Kenya, experienced enough to understand the importance of engaging all sectors of our economy to drive transformation, and committed enough to serve professionally with loyalty and most importantly with integrity,’ he said.

At the same time, the President said no public servant was above the law and reminded them to always submit to the rule of law and to the constitution ‘‘because that is what makes us a nation’’.

He described Kindiki as a dedicated professional whose commitment to excellence has helped the country overcome daunting challenges. He also described his new deputy as a tireless public servant.

“He is also a patriot whose dedication to cohesion, national unity, and inclusivity is beyond reproach, an effective champion of peace and stability. He is a loyal steward of our Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda, whom, together with many others, we crafted to take our country to the next level,” he said.

 He added, “Prof Kindiki is a highly qualified and outstanding scholar, advocate, and public servant whose career has been defined by exemplary achievements which demonstrate his vision for positive change and commitment to high standards of efficiency in the performance of his duties.

Ruto called for partnership between the Directorate of Public Prosecution, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Judiciary so that the graft can be dealt with decisively and enable citizens to get their due in State expenditure even as he committed to clean up the Nairobi river.