By Munira Mandano and Hillary Mageka
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mwangi Kiunjuri on Wednesday said he was “unaware” of a Mt. Kenya ministers’ meeting, in which Deputy President William Ruto’s alleged assassination plot was mooted.
Kiunjuri says he was out of Kenya when the ministers’ conclave took place at La Mada Hotel in Nairobi.
Four CSs, who allegedly attended the meeting, said they convened to chart a way forward on matters Mt. Kenya development agenda.
The four ministers are: Joe Mucheru (ICT), Sicily Kariuku (Health), Peter Munya (Trade and Industrialisation) and James Macharia (Transport and Infrastructure). The meeting was allegedly organised by Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho.
And now, Kinjuri, who is also a minister from the Mt. Kenya region, said he wasn’t invited to the private meeting.
Speaking in Kwale County during the distribution of 50, 000 cashew nut seedlings to farmers at Bwiti area in Lunga Lunga Constituency on Wednesday, Kinjuri said even if he had attended the meeting, he “wouldn’t be part of the syndicate planning DP Ruto’s elimination”.
“I am very busy fulfilling Jubilee Administration’s Big Four pledge. That is what President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, hired me to do. I have no time for such [useless] meetings,” said Kiunjuri.
The CS said he wasn’t invited to the meeting, nonetheless.
“Honestly, I have not been in Nairobi for quite some time. I am also reading and hearing the La Mada Hotel stories just like other Kenyans, but when I go back to Nairobi I will follow up the story conclusively,” said Kiunjuri.
The agriculture ministry boss further faulted the four CSs meeting, saying its outcome risked marginalising other parts of Kenya when it comes to development.
“You know I was appointed to serve the whole country; I am not a Cabinet secretary for Mt. Kenya region alone; that is why I cannot sit in such kind of meetings,” added the minister.
Meanwhile politicians allied to Deputy President William Ruto now want CSs Mucheru, Sicily, Munya and Macharia to resign over the alleged Ruto-assassination plot.
Mwala MP, Vincent Musyoka, said the four ministers’ alleged action “undermined” the presidency.
“When you undermine the deputy president, you are actually undercutting the president. If these people are undermining their boss, they have no moral authority to continue serving Kenyans in their current capacities,” said MP Musyoka during a press conference held at Parliament Buildings on Wednesday.
“I call upon these Cabinet Secretaries to do the honorable thing, and possibly consider resigning from their positions,” said the Eastern Kenya lawmaker.
Musyoka’s sentiments were echoed by other lawmakers, including Didmus Barasa (Kimilili), Mathias Robi (Kuria West), Mohammed Ali (Nyali), Gabriel Tongoyo (Narok West), Stanley Muthama (Lamu West) and Wilson Kogo (Chemusei).
Trade minister Peter Munya, however, denied claims that he and the other three CSs were planning to kill Ruto in a bid to stop him from ascending to presidency in 2022.
