The government has turned the heat on leaders, accusing them of inciting Kenyans instead of offering solutions to problems that are crippling public services.

Leaders who have been vocal in criticising the government are insincere, said Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, adding that they are harbouring ill intentions against the Kenya Kwanza administration.

Speaking at a church in Laisamis, Marsabit county, Kindiki dismissed the leaders, saying the challenges Kenya is facing could not be resolved by speaking alone.

“The country cannot be built by mere words or baseless politics aimed at dividing people or words that can destabilise the country, but through cultivating unity among citizens,” he said.

“We have different leaders, including village elders, religious leaders and politicians, and each leader has a right to give views on how the country should be governed, but they should do so with love and patriotism.

“Let’s stop correcting each other through disrespect and incitement. We must be deliberate in building our country because it is the only homeland that we have.”

Kindiki noted that even President William Ruto, in his State of the Nation address last week, acknowledged that the country is facing various challenges though some progress has been made in addressing them.

The DP urged leaders to preach unity among Kenyans as the government works to alleviate the problems citizens are facing. “I’m appealing to all citizens of goodwill to desist from incitement, tribalism and unhelpful religious sentiments from leaders because our uniting factor is being Kenyans,” he stated.

Kindiki added: “Let’s criticize each other with love so that we can find solutions to the problems that we face as a country. When giving your views about the government, don’t be enraged or as if you hold negative reservations beyond the problems that you are pointing out to the government.”

Defends SHIF

He called on leaders to show love by diplomatically and quietly highlighting areas that the government needs to address. “Any leader who is inciting any section of the society is not worth that title of leadership. Those leaders have nothing to tell the public and thus are inciting Kenyans instead of pointing out problems and giving solutions to them,” he said.

“All influencers can converge their input to make Kenya a better country.”

The DP was accompanied by MPs Joseph Lekuton (Laisamis), Naomi Waqo (Marsabit), John Bwire (Taveta), Beatrice Elachi (Dagoretti North), John Paul Mwirigi (Igembe South), Gideon Kimaiyo (Keiyo South) and Geoffrey Mulanya (Nambale).

He defended the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), noting that it is meant to eliminate discrimination against low-income Kenyans when they seek medical services in hospitals. “We started a new health scheme to help the poor to access health services just like the rich. The rich will contribute more so that we can reduce the contributions from the poor as we seek to create equality in access to health services,” he said.

Acknowledging that SHIF is riddled with glitches, the DP was emphatic that patients with chronic illness and emergency cases have been accessing services effortlessly in hospitals. “We are now working to address the problems of outpatient and referral systems in level two, three and four hospitals because of inadequate diagnostic equipment,” he said.

Noting that Marsabit is the largest county in size, Kindiki said the government will create more sub-counties to bring government services closer to the people and to address insecurity in the region.

Adani deals

He told residents that by January 30 next year Korr sub-county will be fully functional with a deputy county commissioner (DCC) and all heads of other government departments.

“We won’t be deploying the DCC alone. To make Korr sub-county fully operational, he will be accompanied by officers from the department of the Registrar of Persons, Children Affairs, Registrar of Deaths and Births, sub-county director of education and police officers,” he added.

Kindiki’s call for positive criticism of the government comes two days after President Ruto cancelled multibillion-shilling deals with Indian conglomerate Adani Group following the indictment of one of its owners, Gautam Adani, in the United States over bribery allegations.

The Kenya deals, entered into in secrecy, were highly guarded despite mounting pressure from the public for the government to reveal the terms of the contract.

Ruto and Opposition leader Raila Odinga defended the firm, saying it had earned an international reputation for revamping the aviation and energy sectors.