• Muturi says he feels that he has what it takes and is ready for the race.
• Muturi said Kenyans must ask themselves the hard questions of what has continued to bedevil the country over the years.
Image: JACK OWUOR
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has spoken about his vision for the country, putting job creation, national unity and an efficient civil service at the centre of his presidential bid.
For a man who has served in the Judiciary and the Legislature, Muturi said he has what it takes to fix Kenya.
In an interview with the Star, Muturi appeared to question the laziness of state officers and public servants in President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration.
He said these officers have failed to implement the Big Four agenda.
“We must be asking ourselves why is it we have a policy like Universal Health Coverage. The President has been talking about it but people give all manner of excuses that this is not working, that this is not happening,” the Speaker told the Star.
He has a five-point agenda to fix the country – create jobs for the majority of young people, pursue national unity, accessible quality healthcare and to bring integrity to governance.
Muturi said Kenyans must ask themselves the hard questions of what has continued to bedevil the country over the years.
During the interview, he came close to saying the problem is bad leadership.
“Why should a leader in Kenya not want to walk to a public hospital and be treated there? Should you really be spending money from our meagre resources paying for medical services out of the country? These are questions we need to ask ourselves going forward,” Muturi said.
He argues that good leadership, which he promises, will help move the country forward and pull people from debilitating levels of poverty.
“We need to embrace the fact that we need change, not that others have not done something, but we need to implement what they have recommended,” he said.
“A project like food security is a very good idea. Why is it not being implemented by the people given the responsibility to do it? People must begin to be accountable.”
The National Assembly Speaker is also promising to restore order in the civil service so that employees earn justifiably for their effort.
“Performance contracting was implemented in the country, is it working? I recently introduced it in Parliament, I intend to see it through.”
He said this would be “so that people don’t just come to the office, do nothing and expect a salary at the end of the month.”
The speaker said it was important to establish a public service where people would be available every day to show what they have achieved in service delivery.
Asked why he has not used his current position to push for the reforms he is seeking to bring, Muturi said the August House only makes recommendations.
“It is agencies that are supposed to act on those recommendations that should be held accountable. And to the extent that they do not implement them, at the end of a given period, people must account. If you cannot deliver, exit,” he said.
He complained that it was wrong that some recommendations were recurring year after year.
The speaker said he comes from the school of thought where institutions of governance must be given the wherewithal and all the necessary assistance that is required to ensure that they achieve what they are supposed to.
He said the agencies must also be checked to see if they are living to the expectations.
For a person tasked with leading the country’s political melting pot – the National Assembly, he had jitters taking up the mantle after the president’s term ends.
With the elders putting months of persistence, the former Siakago MP yielded to the call leading to his crowning by Kikuyu elders at the Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga shrine.
Coming from the minority Mbeere clan, the elaborate ceremony was to mean that he was welcomed to the House of Mumbi, the West of Mt Kenya.
The activities, though largely treated as cultural, sparked a fierce political debate, causing rumbles in the President’s backyard.
Three governors from Mt Kenya East, however, did not hide their intention that Muturi was being prepared for bigger roles – to bargain for a share of the national cake, including the presidency.
Theirs was that it was time for the Mt Kenya West to back the East – Embu, Meru, and Tharaka Nithi counties – in the next election.
The speaker ended the speculation during a meeting at his home, where he declared his bid for the presidency in 2022, saying he was best-suited to restore order and discipline in the country.
Muturi told the Star he made the declaration having thought about the efforts of the elders from the Mt Kenya region.
He is the sixth to join the list of those bidding to succeed President Kenyatta in 2022.
Muturi said he has what it takes to beat the lot that includes Deputy President William Ruto, ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi, Wiper's Kalonzo Musyoka and former UNCTAD secretary general Mukhisa Kituyi.
He told the Star that he accepted the call of regional leadership –culturally, after weighing all the factors and he felt “this is the good time.”
Unmoved by the big names, the speaker said competition is healthy, hence the reason Kenya is a democratic party state.
“We cannot run away from competition. It is healthy and good so that at the end of the day, people have a variety from which to choose. When the menu is rich, you go for the best,” he said.
And on the new endeavour, JB as he is popularly known in his circles, said he brings on board diversity.
“I have a wide reach across the country, not necessarily in the Mt Kenya region. It is what it is that is good for our country. I feel that I have what it takes and I am ready for the race,” he said at his residence on Tuesday.
He said there are many issues bedevilling the country that are “not necessarily giving Kenyans a headache because of lack of ideas but lack of discipline and order in the way we do things.”
The speaker is fashioning himself as the person who would restore order in the country, observing that there was a little bit of lax on heeding national values.
Muturi said he has a clear plan for bringing to reality the already existing ideas, including the Big Four agenda and Vision 2030, adding he can only deliver from the helm.
“We need to move a notch higher to achieve all these goals. We have to get a different approach – based mainly on discipline, order in the country,” he said.
The speaker holds that it is time for every Kenyan to introspect, and ask themselves why some policies are working in countries that have borrowed from the blueprints.
On the choice of political party, Muturi said there was none for the time being “but that is a work in progress.”
Muturi said he has continued to reach out to as many people and shades of opinion, “so that at the end of the day we get a majority speaking in one voice.”
“This doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be some other people expressing a different opinion,” he said of his bid to whip the populous Mt Kenya vote to his fold.
Edited by A.N