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President William Ruto has asked Kenya Kwanza MPs not to be deterred by the Opposition protests saying they are aimed at derailing his agenda.

A high-profile source who attended the meeting said Ruto showered praises on the MPs’ performance in parliament, especially in the budget-making process.

“We have passed a good budget and you should be proud of what you have done,” the President reportedly told the legislators during a closed-door meeting at State House, Nairobi.

He said the opposition was hell-bent to sabotaging the economy using the weekly protests.
The legislators reportedly said arresting opposition leader Raila Odinga was not an option as by doing so the government would be falling into his trap.

“There have been calls of arresting Raila and the Azimio-allied leaders but the move will only give them political mileage and sympathy. We will be falling in their trap and that is why we need to take the political route,” Nyeri Senator Wahome Wamatangi told his colleagues.

President Ruto told the MPs that he cannot be everywhere responding to statements made by the opposition and asked the lawmakers to be more proactive in hitting back whenever the government is attacked.

Some MPs reportedly expressed concern about the Director-General of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Noordin Haji’s performance.

“The NIS has demonstrated openly that he is supportive of the opposition leader and the financiers of the demonstrations. He is the one who pushed for bipartisan talks which achieved nothing. It was a useless undertaking,” said an MP who was present.

However, Ruto did not respond to the allegations made against his spymaster.
Responding to concerns by governors present that the Azimio allied colleagues were using county funds to support the protests in their respective counties, Ruto cautioned them against taking that route.

“These are public funds; how will you account for the money when time to do so comes?” posed the Head of State.

He assured the MPs his full support in and outside Parliament in passing legislation which are pro-people.

“I will not fail you. We will work together and we will succeed. We will succeed and our competitors know and that is why they are putting all efforts to disrupt us,” Ruto told the meeting.

He added: “We have a historical opportunity to change Kenya. And it won’t be easy. The easiest option would have been to expand our budget deficit. But we won’t. We could have given in to blackmail. But we won’t.”

Nairobi Governor Johnstone Sakaja was on the receiving end once again with MPs especially those from Nairobi accusing him of being an opposition sympathiser.

“The feeling in the meeting was that Sakaja is a sell-out who they accused of working with Azimio,” said the source.

However, when he came, Sakaja gave a good account of himself maintaining that he was a staunch supporter of the Kenya Kwanza administration and that he will never betray the President.

There was a showdown between Sakaja and Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru with the MP accusing the governor of neglecting UDA supporters in Nairobi and that UDA grassroots leaders had been left on their own.

Sakaja, however, denied the accusations saying that only a few weeks ago, he and the MP drove to his constituency to open a school feeding programme kitchen.

Gatanga MP Edward Muriu accused Raila of being selfish adding that he had no interests of Kenyans at heart.

“We have been tasked to unmask him and show our people how he has managed to beat the government and access government through the back door,” said Muriu.

He added: “Unlike in the past when Raila had his way, we agreed that he will have to wait for 2027 to try his luck again in the presidential election.”

The meeting was attended by governors, senators and MPs. Among those who spoke during the meeting were governors Cecily Mbarire (Embu), Anne Waiguru (Kirinyaga), Kenneth Lusaka (Bungoma), Fatuma Achani (Kwale) and Sakaja.

Others were the majority leader in the National Assembly Kimani Ichung’wah (Kikuyu), Silvanus Osoro (South Mugirango), David Ochieng’ (Ugenya) and Nominated MP Sabina Chege.