Hate or love him, the Interior CS Fred Matiang’i is still the man to watch, not just now but for the coming weeks, months and even years.
Matiang’i rose to the national scene when he was appointed Education CS in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cabinet.
During his first term in office, he made drastic and significant changes in the education sector that saw him being elevated to a national hero status.
For the first time in the history of our Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations, we saw the number of students scoring Grade A plain reduce drastically from thousands to mere hundreds.
Matiang’i physically visited the examination centres and schools and at one point even supervised the examinations himself, he declared war on exam irregularities and absentee teachers.
Apart from a few teachers and students who feared his wrath, the rest of Kenyans, especially parents and stakeholders in the education sector heaped praise on him for bringing sanity in the education sector.
He also spearheaded the initial transition from 8-4-4 to a new curriculum which is its second phase of implementation.
Things took a different turn when President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed him the cabinet secretary for interior after a shambolic elections that the opposition boycotted. Matiang’I plunged into the ministry headfast, with determination and zeal to assist Kenyatta leave a lasting legacy.
After the swearing-in of the People’s President, Raila Odinga, Matiang’i acted tough on the opposition leaders.
He started by giving a gazette notice which outlawed the opposition outfit National Resistance Movement on January 30th.
Thereafter, he engaged the opposition in a series of arrests and intimidation.
Matiang'i deported the self-proclaimed general of NRM Miguna Miguna.
These actions have put him on the spotlight with some Kenyans openly disagreeing with him.
Political analysts are divided on whether to label him a sycophant or not, his past is being dug out with reports or are they allegations? that he was summarily dismissed from the University of Nairobi because he could not perform his duties well.
With series of street demonstrations being planned by the National Super Alliance in coming weeks, Matiang’i is still the man to watch.
Kenyans will watch his every step and move.
Will he unleash the state machinery to disperse protesters? Will he arrest and deport opposition leaders for organizing street demonstrations?
Now that the high court has squashed his gazette notice which outlawed NRM, what step will he take next?
Will he still term NRM as a criminal group and therefore go ahead to dismantle it?
It is a case of wait and see.