President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to meet MPs from the Mt Kenya region today in what is seen as an attempt to save the embattled Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary, Ms Anne Waiguru from impeachment.
The meeting is scheduled to take place at State House, Nairobi after a national prayer breakfast at the Safari Park Hotel earlier in the morning.
President Kenyatta was to meet the MPs and senators on Wednesday but it had to be postponed since his schedule was full.
The meeting has however not gone down well with Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi who is planning to table a motion in the National Assembly to have Ms Waiguru dismissed. The MP who said he was on a private trip to Vatican, maintained that he would still proceed with his plans.
He is reported to have garnered more than 172 signatures including those of Alice Ng’ang’a (Thika Town, TNA) and Mary Wambui (Othaya, TNA).
“As they sit down to conspire against the Constitution and the will of Kenyans, I’m also at the Vatican to seek divine intervention on how to solve our country’s problems,” he said in a telephone conversation.
He also questioned the President’s interests saying that the constitutional right to impeach Cabinet Secretaries lay with the MPs and gave examples of Mr Amos Kimunya and Mr William Ruto, who faced censure motions when they were ministers adding that Ms Waiguru should not feel intimidated and the President should not rush to her defence.
Meanwhile, President Kenyatta was on a tour of the Rift Valley on Wednesday where he addressed roadside rallies to calm the political tension stemming from the perceived tribal sharing of public appointments.
He however, kept off the issues surrounding the transfer of Mr Kiplimo Rugut from the National Youth Service and the impeachment calls against Devolution Cabinet Secretary Ann Waiguru instead dwelling on the government’s commitment to fight terrorism and improve security by recruiting additional police officers and providing them with modern equipment.
For the first time, President Kenyatta was in the Rift Valley region without his deputy, Mr William Ruto, who has been criticised for supporting Mr Rugut’s transfer.
The President was accompanied by MPs Oscar Sudi (Kapsaret), Sila Tiren (Moiben), Kangogo Bowen (Marakwet East), Eusila Ngeny (Uasin Gishu Women’s Rep); Uasin Gishu Senator Isaac Melly and Governors Jackson Mandago (Uasin Gishu) and Alex Tolgos (Elgeyo-Marakwet).
Several Rift Valley MPs have in recent times criticised the Jubilee administration following the transfer of Mr Rugut describing the appointment of Dr Nelson Githinji to replace him as part of a purge.
On Wednesday, Kuresoi South MP Zachayo Cheruiyot pointed out that the purge against public and state officials from the Rift Valley was much more than had already been observed.
“The Kalenjin are asking: What is the agenda of the Jubilee government towards the community in terms of its well-being? In South Rift today, tea prices are plummeting, yet nobody is showing any concern. Then there is the issue of security in the entire region, again nobody cares,” he is reported to have lamented.
Another Baringo MP alleged that the situation on the ground was not good. “If the replacement was a general or an assistant commissioner of police, it could have been different. But he was replaced by a person whose line of profession is totally different, a very big surprise,” said the legislator who did not want to be identified.
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