Luhya leaders were yesterday left stunned after President William Ruto transferred Deborah Barasa from the Health docket only hours after he had assured them that the reshuffle would not affect her. 

The President had hosted Luhya leaders at State House, Nairobi where he had also asked them to support his government and stop acting as if they are strangers in the Kenya Kwanza administration. 

The leaders, who included Prime-CS Musalia Mudavadi, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, CSs Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives) and Barasa (Health) herself are said to have left State House in a joyful mood after the president assured them about his trust in the latter. 

“Those reports you hear about me removing Dr Barasa from the Ministry of Health are all hearsay and rumours. She is one of the CSs I have full confidence and trust in. She is quite reliable and hard-working. Be assured that nobody is removing her from that Ministry,” the president is said to have responded to a question by Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale. 

Khalwale had sought to know the president’s position on rumours doing rounds that there were schemes to impeach Wetang’ula as speaker and remove Barasa from the ministry. 

But within a few hours after leaving State House, Ruto had transferred Barasa to the Environment and was replaced by Aden Duale. 

The meeting was attended by elected Luhya leaders save for Governors Wilber Ottichilo (Vihiga) and George Natembeya (Trans Nzoia) Senator Okiya Omtatah (Busia) and Saboti MP Caleb Amisi. Also present were CSs and PSs from the region. 

Ottichilo was absent with apologies, while Omtatah, Amisi and Natembeya who have carved themselves out as government critics were not invited to the meeting where Ruto also asked the leaders to convince residents in the Western region to support his government’s decision to lease sugar milling factories to private entities. 

The head of state is also said to have taken time extolling his political prowess and acumen and how he remains unbeatable in 2027 and that those trying to challenge him are cheating themselves. 

Government critics 

Those in attendance said the President seemed to have been irked by sentiments from some of the leaders who instead of offering solutions have been castigating his projects. 

Just a month ago, Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa had raised concerns over the implementation of the new Social Health Authority (SHA), urging President Ruto to intervene. 

“I’m taking this opportunity to tell President Ruto that Kenyans are crying that this SHA is not working, that there is no money. The system cannot accommodate the millions of Kenyans who are registered with SHA,” he stated. 

Natembeya has also been at the forefront of castigating the president, insisting that at its high time the western region was united. “I have always spoken about our people coming together, and some see that as tribalism. It is not tribalism. Coming together, like we have today, is not tribalism. Tribalism is favouritism—when you say someone should get something simply because they belong to a particular community. That is tribalism.” 

Amisi also criticized Ruto’s frequent meetings with leaders from the Western region, arguing that these meetings have not resulted in any tangible development projects for the area. “I have lost count of the number of times the president has had meetings with Luhya MPs, but what I am yet to count is any single project initiated in Western courtesy of these meetings,” Amisi stated. 

The legislator, who revealed that he had not been invited to yesterday’s meeting, questioned why the region remains underdeveloped despite having strong political representation in government. “Of course, they avoided inviting me for reasons best known to them, but isn’t it about time we now see these projects?” 

Extensive tour 

The meeting which came after Ruto had an extensive tour of the region focused on assessing the progress of key projects under the national government. 

These include strengthening agricultural value chains, increasing fertiliser uptake to boost food production, and reviving the sugar and coffee industries in the region. 

The president is said to have opened the meeting with remarks that the Luhya community has been in opposition for long and it was time for them to shift allegiance for the sake of development. 

Basking in the success of the renovations undertaken on State House, the President is said to have told the leaders that “their being in government would attract similar developments in the region.” 

Mudavadi is said to have told his colleagues from the Mulembe nation that there is nobody strong enough on the political scene to dislodge President Ruto in 2027.