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Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria now claims that high-ranking government officials plotting the government’s downfall were behind the cabinet’s dissolution.

Kuria allged that some people in the administration took advantage of the Gen-Z protests to overthrow the government.

“Some people who are in government were attempting a coup. We know some people who like a hyena, saw the hand swinging. They thought it was gone, and they took advantage of the Gen-Z (protests) there. This was a clear failed coup,” said Kuria.

 Kuria revealed that the Cabinet had a lot of internal divisions making it difficult to even convene a meeting of Cabinet committees.  “We had our problems, even having a Cabinet committee was a problem and we needed to give the President a chance to reconstitute his Cabinet,” he said during an interview with a local television station.

He, however, fell short of naming the high-ranking government officials who allegedly took advantage of the three-week-long protests to bring down the Kenya Kwanza government.

President William Ruto last week claimed that the protests were funded by foreigners who wanted to bring down his government.

Speaking in Kajiado county, Ruto claimed that the financiers of the protests wanted to assume power through the backdoor.

Yesterday, Ruto called out the Ford Foundation, associated with former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, for allegedly funding the protests, threatening to kick the organisation out of the country (See separate story.)   

Fish fingers

 During the interview, Kuria said the protests had taught him valuable lessons.

“I have been calling them the generation of Uber and fish fingers. They have proven me wrong. Now the Uber and fish fingers people have shown me that they can take this country forward. If I had a wish, I would want to be a Gen-Z,” said Kuria.

 He at the same time supported the plan to incorporate members of the Opposition in the proposed reconstituted Cabinet.

 “I support the government of national unity. If I get a chance to serve in the Cabinet again, I won’t mind coming back but if I don’t, so be it,”he said.

Before the Cabinet’s dissolution, Kuria had engaged Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in a war of words, even questioning his competence to serve as the second-in-command. 

A day before he was fired, Kuria had revealed that some of the DP’s roles had been reassigned to him.

Spearheading reforms

While addressing mourners during the burial of his aunt Mary Njeri at Kairi village in Gatundu North, Kiambu county, Kuria claimed that Ruto had assigned him the role of spearheading reforms in the coffee sub-sector.

The task of implementing reforms in key agricultural sub-sectors, particularly tea, coffee and dairy had been delegated to the second in command to ease the plight of millions of farmers who rely on the produce for a livelihood.

Gachagua had among other things been tasked to intervene in the sector to rescue it from collapsing following sustained low production over the years and infiltration by cartels.

While Kuria did not directly mention Gachagua in his address, he revealed that some individuals who had been given the job had failed to streamline the sector saying that he approached Ruto seeking to be given the responsibility which he pledged to undertake effectively.