Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary (CS) Moses Kuria spoke for the first time ever in public since his ouster from Cabinet.
Kuria shared his thoughts about the new look government after President William Ruto named a “broad based” Cabinet at the expense of former CSs including Kuria.
The former Gatundu South Member of Parliament was speaking on July 26, 2024, in Makueni County when he shared on why the Kenya Kwanza administration extended an olive branch to opposition-allied politicians.
Kuria was making reference to the nomination of four Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) stalwarts as Cabinet Secretaries.
According to Kuria, the KK government resolved to extend the olive branch to the members to assist the government accomplish some objectives that it didn’t manage to accomplish with the first cabinet.
“The Gen Zs have told me to engage in a candid conversation which I agree. I agree that we need to have a candid conversation. You know yesterday we saw some people got into the government. You are welcome to join the government I will give you the manual of how to run things,” he said.
“We as the government there are many things that we have achieved and there are others that we weren’t able to achieve.”
Former CS Kuria highlighted that the new nominees are now poised to help the government sort out the issues that nearly all of them have criticized before.
Kuria takes on new nominees
While taking on Ministry of mining CS Ali Hassan Joho nominee, Kuria said that the former Mombasa governor will be tasked to ensure a balanced sharing revenue in the mining sector.
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Cooperatives CS nominee Wycliffe Oparanya was also not spared as Kuria said that his first task will be to help the government trace hustler fund defaulters who he said are above ten million.
“For example, here at Makueni County we have minerals. The governor here has visited me at my office to complain about the sharing revenues of minerals The work that we weren’t able to do now you governor you’ll go to Joho,” said Kuria.
“You know the hustler fund about 12 million people have defaulted we have tried to get at them, but we weren’t able to We told Oparanya you seem to be the man for the job, come and help us find these people.”
He further noted that the new Cooperatives CS will be tasked to help the government revive the Coffee sector by ensuring that farmers receive funds owed to them by Cooperatives.
Why we picked Mbadi & Wandayi
According to Moses Kuria, National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi emerged as the man the government chose to sort out issues on the fuel prices that have been a bone of contention among Kenyans.
“You complained about the fuel prices up to a point where I told you to dig up your own well. You said that you couldn’t dig up your own so when we failed to address the issue, we went all the way up to Ugunja and poached one James Opiyo Wandayi and told him to provide us with a formula of lowering the oil prices because we have failed to do so,” he said.
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While taking on the new Treasury CS nominee John Mbadi, the former CS said that the docket was the most crucial one due to the fact that the country is grappling with debt and budget deficits.
Kuria highlighted that the government found it hard to achieve its projects because most Kenyans were complaining about the new tax measures.
“The debts were too much. We tried to raise more taxes, but Kenyans warned us against increasing rates. We were left in a dilemma. All the projects that we had that is housing, healthcare and education were at risk as we wondered where the money could come from to achieve them,” pointed out Kuria.
“The issue became a headache we went all the way up to Suba and poached for my former classmate John Mbadi Ng’ong’o and told him to give us a formula to manage the revenue and taxes.”
Kuria’s speech came following his ouster from Cabinet where he was among casualties of President Ruto’s decision to dissolve the Cabinet and dismiss all CSs except for Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi.
The former Gatundu South lawmaker was not included in the list of nominees announced by Ruto in his fresh look “broad-based” Cabinet.
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