Two Cabinet Secretaries have denied claims that the current Cabinet was plagued by a sharp division that was hindering its functionality.
The Cabinet Secretaries, Eugene Wamalwa (Devolution and Planning) and Keriako Tobiko (Environment and Natural Resources) said on the contrary, the Cabinet was more united than before and was helping President Uhuru Kenyatta to achieve his Big Four Agenda for development.
Speaking at Duka Moja in Narok East on Friday, the two Cabinet Secretaries said President Kenyatta and Ruto should be given ample time to deliver on their mandate, adding that the duo were still united as before and downplayed allegations of a rift between the two linked to succession politics.
Recently, the Deputy President William Ruto claimed there were plans to assassinate him and this seems to have caused ripples in the Executive, where Cabinet Secretaries, Members of Parliament and other leaders allied to the Ruto, loosely known as Tangatanga and others supporting President Kenyatta loosely known as Kieleweke have been trading accusations with the Ruto camp demanding investigations into the murder saga.
The Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had summoned four Cabinet Secretaries to record statements over the allegations of the death plot. But the CSs; Mwangi Kiunjuri (Agriculture), Joe Mucheru (Information), Sicily Kariuki (Health) and James Macharia (Roads) did not however, record statements as an official complaint had not been made.
Former State House Digital Director and Blogger, Dennis Itumbi was charged with authoring an alleged forged letter to the President, claimed to have been authored by a Cabinet Secretary detailing the alleged plot to assassinate the Deputy President.
Wamalwa also called for an end to wrangles between Parliament and the Senate over budget allocation to the counties this financial year and called on the two Houses to find an amicable way to resolve the conflict.
The Senate which oversights devolution has protested against Sh.304.9billion allocated to the counties in 2019/2020 financial year as it is Sh.6 billion lower than the allocation of last financial year. They argued this amount should have gone up instead of going down.
The Council of Governors has waded into this issue, threatening to go to the court to seek legal redress over this allocation.
By Mabel Keya-Shikuku
