• Uhuru, who has since been ejected as party leader of the former ruling party, told delegates at the NDC that he is going nowhere.
• Section 6(1) of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act 2003 bars a retired president from active engagement in politics for more than six months after leaving office.
Image: EUGENE WAMALWA/TWITTER
Former Defence CS Eugene Wamalwa has fired back at the Kenya Kwanza administration saying former President Uhuru Kenyatta is not one to be intimidated.
Wamalwa said the government's claim that it will hold back Uhuru's retirement benefits unless he exits active politics as lacking legal grounds.
He was speaking during the Jubilee party National Delegates Convention at Ngong Racecourse on Monday.
"Kwa wale ambao wanaleta vitisho kwa mheshimiwa Uhuru Kenyatta, I want to tell you I have known this gentlemen since my childhoold, Uhuru sio mtu wa kutishwa bwana na Uhuru sio mtu wa kupangwa bwana," Wamalwa said.
While terming the attempt to force Uhuru into retirement as blackmail, the former Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister said Article 38 of the Constitution gives the former President political rights like any other ordinary Kenyan.
"You cannot limit his rights...kwa hivyo watu wa Kenya Kwanza muache hiyo mchezo ya pesa nane ati Uhuru asipowacha siasa ati hawatamupa marupurupu yake (so Kenya Kwanza should stop petty politics of saying unless Uhuru quits politics you won't pay his retirement benefits)," he said.
Wamalwa likened the fight for Jubilee leadership to a game of choosing between money and the box saying Uhuru has chosen the box over retirement perks.
Section 6(1) of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act 2003 bars a retired president from active engagement in politics for more than six months after leaving office.
It is this section of the law that the Kenya Kwanza government is advancing its argument on why the former head of state stands to lose his Sh655 million pension unless he quits politics, including relinquishing the leadership of the Jubilee party.
Uhuru, who has since been ejected as party leader of the former ruling party by the Kanini Kega-led faction, told delegates at the NDC that he is going nowhere.
The former head of state had initially scheduled the NDC to be held at the Bomas of Kenya but the management said the venue won't be available due to undergoing renovation that will take eight weeks.
In his address to delegates, Uhuru revealed that he had initially mulled over the idea of handing over the Jubilee leadership but changed his mind after he was intimidated.
"I had thought that when I will summon the NDC, I would come and tell you that I have achieved what I could and that it is time for you to pick other leaders," he told the delegates.
"But others decided that it would be intimidation and force, today I tell them to get someone to intimidate and not Uhuru Kenyatta," he said.
He threw a salvo at those in government fighting over the control of the Jubilee party wondering why they are fighting over a party they previously said was dead.