Mt Kenya MPs urge gov’t institutions to respect Gachagua
A section of Mt Kenya leaders has accused some state institutions of disrespecting Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Speaking to journalists at Mukurwe-ini Constituency in Nyeri County, the legislators led by Senators Wahome Wamatinga (Nyeri ), John Methu (Nyandarua) and Mukurwe-ini MP John Kaguchia said it's unfortunate that some state officials have resorted to correcting Gachagua in public yet he speaks for the same government they serve.
MPs defend Gachagua
The lawmakers maintained that Gachagua's remarks linking Kenya Airways' losses to state capture were nothing but facts.
"These things are not being said from nowhere, the deputy president has also talked about Kenya Airways being a state-captured institution. The institution has over and over asked for funds to keep the national carrier afloat. Until when will they continue asking to be bailed out?" Kaguchia posed
Kaguchia said that many of the institutions have been run down by the same managers who are out to dispute Rigathi's comments.
"We will summon most of these heads of institutions especially Kenya Airways and Central Bank. We know most of them are run down by the same managers now discounting the DP's comments," Kaguchia added.
The MP's sentiments were echoed by Wamatinga who vowed to ensure the institutions are held accountable for multi-billion deals signed in the recent past.
"We are here to encourage the deputy president to say nothing but the truth and to keep on pushing them until they say the truth. We will also be summoning them to the Senate they will be answering to us on how we got ourselves to where we are today, where the country coffers have run dry," Wamatinga said.
On his part, Methu urged government heads to be patient and wait for the William Ruto-led administration to turn around the economy as promised during campaigns.
"We in UDA want to turn around this economy we know which areas to reform so when the deputy president pinpoints areas let no one deny because he knows what he is saying," Methu stated.
DP Gachagua has been at loggerheads with some institutions after his comments in the media.
The remarks come days after Kenya Airways Chairman Michael Joseph disputed claims that the airline was in a financial mess due to mismanagement.
“We have had discussions with Kenya Airways and they have the highest fares on the continent and their planes are always full but they make losses. We are trying to deal with that State capture so that we can bring down the cost of the operations of the airline so that they can make profits,” Gachagua said in a recent interview with Citizen TV.
Joseph disputed the claims saying the contracts by the airline are purely commercial business arrangements meant to benefit the national carrier.
Gachagua’s comments about a forex crisis also led to a rebuttal from the Central Bank of Kenya.
During the TV interview, Gachagua claimed that Kenya did not have a sufficient foreign exchange for oil imports, but CBK responded saying it does not control foreign exchange for commercial banks.
“Even yesterday, we had a crisis because at the Central Bank, we found there isn’t enough foreign currency to pay for oil imports,” Gachagua said.
But in a statement, the regulator said oil importers “obtain their requisite foreign exchange from the commercial banks and not from the CBK”.
