President Uhuru Kenyatta’s move to fire Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa has not augured well with Deputy President William Ruto’s camp.
Ruto’s allies have now come forth with their guns blazing while lamenting over the unceremonious firing of one of their own.
The second in command risks losing his allies from Western region over the recent development. The leaders feel use and dumped by the Jubilee Party.
Speaking in Matungu, Kakamega County in the presence of Mr Echesa, Majority Chief Whip in the National Assembly Benjamin Washiali faulted the handshake between President Uhuru and African Union’s High Representative for Infrastructure Development Raila Odinga for what befell Achesa. Washiali said that Echesa was victim of circumstances.
He argued that his office has not implicated in any corruption scandal yet he was the only one throw out of the cabinet in the mini-reshuffle.
His remarks were backed by Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa, Emmanuel Wangwe (Navakholo), and Bernard Shinali (Ikolomani) who said that region was being targeted even after contributing millions of votes to the Jubilee regime.
He also said that he will call a press conference with other leaders, who have pledged loyalty the second in command, to demand an explanation over Echesa’s dismissal.
“I have woken up with bad news that the first Wanga to serve as a Cabinet secretary in Kenya has been fired. President Uhuru Kenyatta could have called the team of Luhya leaders he met before he came over for Mashujaa Day to tell us what our son has done. We have read newspapers but the ministry of sports has not been mentioned among the corrupt ministries,” he said in part.He also said that the firing of Achesa is a scheme to lock out the second in command from rising to power.“
The sacking of Mr Echesa is not about the fight against corruption by President Kenyatta but a plot targeting Mr Ruto’s 2022 presidential ambitions,” said Washiali, as quoted by Daily Nation.
The sacking of Echesa came after Uhuru, who has vowed not to abandon Raila, warned his cabinet against corruptions and non-performance.