‘Be unpredictable to your ministers’ – Mutahi Ngunyi advises Ruto

Political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi has urged President William Ruto to be unpredictable to his ministers when discharging his mandated roles.

In a statement shared via his official X account, Ngunyi advised the President to occasionally fire ministers or Principal Secretaries (PSs) for no apparent reason to keep them on the lookout.

“Dear Ruto: Keep your ministers in suspended terror. Be unpredictable. You should occasionally fire a minister or PS for “..no good earthly reason” Prof Mbithi was fired by Moi on Radio after they had spent a whole evening reshuffling the cabinet. There was no reason. Just terror,” he wrote.

Earlier, the President had expressed disappointment in a section of Cabinet Secretaries (CSs) who arrived late at the signing of the performance contract at the State House.

While expressing displeasure, the President and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua told off the CSs and demanded that they write a written explanation detailing the reasons for their lateness.

“I don’t know whether it is because these performance contracts have been going on for 20 years that many people may be mistakenly think that it is a ritual and that is why people resort to the old incompetent excuses that there was traffic for them not to be in the most important public function.

“We have a job because we have a contract. If you cannot keep time with your employer you have dismissed yourself. I mean it is just simple as that. So those who came late, who are members of the Executive, I would be expecting a written explanation and it should not include matters of traffic, on why they do not take this performance seriously,” he said.

Adding: “Because if you do not take this performance contracting seriously it means we do not take the contract with the people of Kenya on performance seriously and that can be a very serious indictment on anybody,”

On his part, Gachagua slammed the CSs noting that no reason justifies their actions. He wondered why the CSs arrived after the president when they were supposed to sign contracts.

“I saw some were late, and I looked at the President in the eye and realised that there would be trouble for them. You can’t arrive at an event when the President is already seated. Why would you come late? How do you explain that? Who did you go to see and yet today was the most important day for you to sign contracts?” Gachagua grumbled.