Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen yesterday turned what was a prayer meeting for victims of the last Friday road accident that claimed 52 lives at Londiani into a lecture session at which he admonished everyone on everything except himself and his ministry.

Never mind, the minister is a former university lecturer and, therefore, it might not be wrong to assume lecturing people all the time, including at funerals, is his business.

However, there are some realities Murkomen must be awake to all the time so long as he serves as a senior minister in the government and a trusted lieutenant of President William Ruto.

Murkomen and his Interior counterpart Prof Kithure Kindiki, are more than anyone else the names that will define the success or failure of the Ruto presidency. They are both intelligent advocates of the High Court who have previously taught law in the university.

To his credit, Ruto included a considerable percentage of youthful professionals in his Executive arm of the government. However, none has a Herculean task more than Murokomen and Kindiki. In ways more than one, they are the faces of the Ruto tenancy at State House. Though it is only eight months since the Ruto administration ascended to power, the soft-spoken Kindiki has more than proved his mettle. He is not only a hard worker, but also seen to be a hard worker.

Kindiki has elected to talk less and work more. His approach is delivering. If anything, Kenyans are also viewing him in different lenses in so far as the Ruto succession is concerned, with some concluding he still would not have been a bad choice for Ruto to pick as his principal assistant had he not settled on Kanda ya Wira, Rigathi Gachagua.

Kindiki is—jointly with his Defence colleague Aden Duale—almost taming the banditry menace in the North Rift and Northern Kenya. That he has been able to achieve without so much drama, noise and hubris as had been the norm in the past.

He is also instituting so many changes in his ministry without chest-thumping and pushing people around—though corruption among traffic police and at the Immigration Department remains a major challenge to him. As does the emerging terror threats in some parts of the country.

Some opinion surveys have identified Kindiki as the most hardworking of Ruto’s team. Maybe he is. Maybe he is not. One hopes that sooner than later, Murkomen can be viewed not in dissimilar binoculars.
There are certain ongoings at JKIA through the Kenya Airports Authority that await to blow in Murkomen’s face very soon. The rising accidents and loss of lives on our roads are not a good on Murkemen’s stewardship at Transcom House. However, the minister must step up to the plate to deal with them. His speech at Londiani yesterday was particularly irritating.

He should be ready to pronounce himself on what his ministry has achieved instead of spewing too many lamentations and heaping blame on Kenyans for failures of his ministries. Talk of ‘we want’, ‘we plan’ or ‘we intend’ are statements from any public or State officer serving in the Kenya Kwanza government.

Unfortunately, those utterances are flowing from Murkomen’s lips with disturbing frequency. Yesterday, he said he cannot do things in the manner that one of his predecessors, John Michuki did. Style is not important. What matters is the outcome. Michuki’s was result-driven. We are still waiting for Murkomen’s. Kindiki and Murkomen have no choice but to deliver. They represent the future of this country, for worse or for better. The choice is theirs.

— The writer is the Revise Editor, People Daily—[email protected]