Nairobi — Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi, his ICT counterpart Joe Mucheru, and Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho steered clear of politics Tuesday when they made their first public appearance, three weeks after Kenyans went to polls on August 9.
The three government officials who were among the most prominent backers of Raila Odinga’s presidential bid made an appearance at the GSU Recce Unit Headquarters in Ruiru alongside their Transport counterpart James Macharia during the unveiling of the new generation number plates.
In a briefing to a group of reporters hurriedly summoned to event whose attendants were concealed in an invitation circulated online, the trio confined their remarks to the new digital plates, which they argued will play a critical role in the streamlining of the motor vehicle importation and curb tax evasion within the sector.
The three had joined Odinga on the campaign trail on several occasions with the pledge of ensuring he succeeded President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declared Deputy President William Ruto President-Elect after sailing past the ’50 per cent plus one’ constitutional threshold that requires a winner in a presidential election to garner 50 per cent of votes cast and an additional vote to avoid a runoff.
The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate garnered 7,176,141(50.49 per cent) votes beating his closest challenger, Azimio’s Raila Odinga, who managed 6,942,930 votes (48.85 percent).
Though Odinga has challenged Ruto’s win at the country’s Supreme Court, the three who had become a thorn in the flesh of the DP Ruto camp are yet to comment on the election results.
The outspoken Cabinet Secretaries who publicly backed Odinga during the electioneering period had maintained that they would stand by him and do whatever it takes to ensure their preferred candidate bags the country’s top seat.
For instance, in his address, four days to the polls, the Interior CS said in a televised address that he would stand by Odinga come what may while maintaining that his backing of the Azimio candidate would not in any way affect the execution of his duties.
Matiangi said every Kenyan had a democratic right to support their preferred candidates no matter the position they hold in the society or government.
“I will not lie to you, I have inclinations and I have preferences, but I will also be very sincere with you, I will deliver on my constitutional obligations without fear or favour. When it comes to that, I will remove my inclinations and serve,” he said.
During the electioneering period, Matiangi had come under heavy criticism from Ruto’s camp for openly supporting the Azimio candidate and was even accused of a plot to use the State machinery to the advantage of the Azimio candidate whom President Kenyatta unveiled as his preferred successor.
On May 4, the ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru elicited mixed reactions when he said that his Ministry was closely working with the Odinga camp to deliver credible polls in August.
Mucheru made the remarks during a meeting Odinga had convened with Central Kenya leaders in Nyeri County, where he also pledged his allegiance and declared State support for the former Prime Minister.
“So some of us are there to ensure we have free fair elections making sure systems and everything are working and obviously we are working closely with Baba to ensure that that is the case and we’ve been looking and seeing the information we are on the right track we are on the right path,” Mucheru said.
Mucheru’s remarks attracted fierce criticism from Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza camp who described it as reckless and a threat to the country’s stability and democracy.
In a quick rejoinder, the Director General of Ruto’s campaign secretariat, Josephat Nanok said that the ICT CS should be questioned warning that such remarks could easily fuel unnecessary tension in the country as the country prepared to go to polls.
“We wish to point out that although it is not isolated, Mucheru’s brazen statement highlights an unfortunate trend by cabinet secretaries to pursue impunity, circumvent the rule of law, corrupt public institutions, facilitate the commission of criminal offenses and subvert our democracy,” Nanok said on May 6.
He alleged a plot to circumvent the will of the people in favor of Azimio coalition candidate as the docket of ICT plays an integral role in the polls in the tallying and relaying the results across the 47,000 polling stations.
The Interior PS Karanja Kibicho on his part was also rooting for Odinga at one time causing frenzy when he claimed that an intelligence report had projected a victory for the Azimio presidential candidate.
Kibicho spoke during an interview on a local TV station a day before the Madaraka Day Celebrations on June 1 where he stated that the country’s intelligence showed that Odinga would win the State House race by a margin of 60 per cent.
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His remarks ruffled UDA’s feathers prompting the party to seek an explanation from Kenya’s intelligence arm, the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
In the complaints filed by Mutuma Gichuru and Associates Advocates, the Ruto-led party sought to understand whether Kibicho’s remarks were based on NIS data arguing that such reckless use of intelligence reports may jeopardize the August 9 presidential election.
“Whether the public utterances by the Principal Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government to the effect that the Azimio candidate would purportedly secure a first-round win in the August 2022 elections with 60 per cent of the votes, are premised on official NIS Reports on polling information,” the letter read in part.
The involvement of Cabinet Secretaries in Odinga’s campaign irked Ruto and his allies who maintained that their involvement in politics was unlawful.
The fate of the Cabinet Secretaries who backed Odinga before the August 9 polls hangs in the balance with the Supreme Court set to make a determination on the presidential results Monday.
If Ruto is declared validly elected by the country’s apex court, Kenyans will be watching closely to see his next course of action against the government officials who fiercely opposed his bid.
