President William Ruto promised to lower the cost of living in 100 days during campaigns but has since presided over a punishing rise in taxes instead.
Legislators in his own party UDA recently confronted him over the issue, warning that inflation is making the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition unpopular with Kenyans.
Pioneer UDA chairman and Parliamentary Service Commissioner Johnson Muthama says the President inherited pressing debts and an economy that had been run down by the Uhuru Kenyatta regime.
He also spoke about the infighting in the UDA party and the cash crunch that has hit Parliament.
Muthama spoke to the Star political reporter Julius Otieno in a tell-all interview.
What pushed you and then Deputy President William Ruto to form UDA?
When we went to form this party, there were not many people. Many people did not believe that we were going to win.
First of all, the party was being associated with the Deputy President then, who was being accused of all bad things, ranging from corruption down to everything that you would mention to be bad.
The challenges were tough, but we went ahead and formed the party, and most of the close supporters who were supporting the idea and being elected MPs, they had been elected on different political parties.
We looked at something that was close and associated with Jubilee. There was that party that was formed in Northeastern by Aden Duale and others.
We took it and because the name was too difficult to sell, we saw it was not going to be understood by the common mwananchi.
We had to look for a name and then we found UDA was the most suitable name.
When Jubilee tried to attack sympathetic Members of Parliament for joining a different party, we proved them wrong.
In our first attempt in elective politics, we took Feisal Bader, who won that by-election as an Independent candidate. We supported him with UDA colours, which were not officially licensed.
Thereafter, we went to Juja and Kiambaa. We won. Then, it became business as usual.
Did you ever imagine UDA and President Ruto would win the elections?
Yes.
One of the things that people don’t understand, is that Ruto was Raila’s right-hand man in 2007. I was Raila’s right-hand man in 2013 and 2017.
Aden Duale was Raila’s right-hand man.
All the senior people who teamed up with Ruto had worked with Raila, and so we understood him very well.
We knew President Uhuru Kenyatta was not a serious person. He was not going to sacrifice his time. Forget about resources, we knew he could not sacrifice his time and energy to campaign for Raila.
He would never take a chopper to campaign for his presidential candidate. He was not and he has never done that. We knew what to do.
Our strategy and performance were based on hard work. With Ruto, we could do between six and 10 meetings a day, when Raila could do two or three.
The people who were supposed to help (Raila) him were not serious. We knew were going to win.
As the founding chairman of UDA party, how would you rate the performance of this administration so far?
We gave serious commitments to the electorate, and we are not the first ones to do that. You cannot be elected if people don’t know your policies.
We walked in being serious to implement them. But this was a transitional government, moving from one regime to a new one.
What happened is that immediately [they lost], they [former government officials] ensured that money was distributed to unknown destinations. And when we took over, the CBK had $90 million.
When Ruto took over, he was hit by bills from all corners of this world. In the first month of takeover, there was no money to pay salaries.
Ruto had to roll up all that negativity of approach to a positive approach.
We made the repayments which were due because in the first and second months we were elected, nothing was paid.
If you borrow money with a property from the bank and you don’t pay, you have only two options; sell and pay or the bank auctions and recovers the money.
We are holding people’s money and we need to pay.
Since the government does not have properties that can be auctioned, the property that belongs to the government of Kenya and any other government is the citizens of that country. So, it’s the citizens to be auctioned.
That’s why Ruto had to raid Kenyans’ pockets because that is the only property that can be auctioned now. Hakuna ingine.
He had to raid Kenyans’ pockets and tell them, because we have these obligations of loans, and we have to pay all of us, we have to change our style of life.
We are holding people’s money and we need to pay. That’s why Ruto had to raid Kenyans’ pockets because that is the only property that can be auctioned now. Hakuna ingine
How long will Kenyans wait for things to get better?
For a period of time, we are going to suffer through this, whether we like it or not.
We want another one year to fully recover and reduce the cost of living. The first year was to lay down the pillars of the foundation we are building.
Azimio are giving a condition that if you don’t reduce the cost of living, they’re going back to the streets, and you are asking Kenyans for one more year.
That is their constitutional right. We cannot curtail democracy that’s allowed by the Constitution. Protests and demonstrations are a constitutional right, but will you really use that right to destroy what’s there?
If they understand the situation we are in — debts are here, here is how the economy is — would you want to go to the streets?
When you say cut cost of living, how will you price a packet of unga now? How will you tell a farmer to sell a bag of maize at Sh2,500 with the high cost he incurred in producing that maize? Who will pay the difference?
Has Parliament been affected by this cash crunch?
Is there a Kenyan who is not spared from this? Come to Parliament. We have pending bills that have not been paid. We found them. I cannot imagine but it’s in billions. We have never signed one contract since we went there.
We found Bunge Towers there, which started with a contract of Sh5 billion. Today, it’s close to Sh10 billion, and it’s not yet finished.
There is another building called CPST that’s coming up in Karen. The contract that was signed was about Sh4.5 billion, today it’s about Sh7 or Sh8 billion or it’s heading there.
Sometimes we don’t even have money to facilitate our drivers and staff. You come to my office, there is no petty cash, as a commissioner. The money is not there. You don’t know what we are going through all of us as a country.
Our cars are not fuelled. No one has been spared.
The funds which are there, if it’s with the clerk, it will serve parliamentarians. If it’s with secretary to the commission, who’s the clerk of the Senate, it will serve the commissioners.
If they don’t have, they don’t have. Nobody has it. We are facing serious challenges.
Committees cannot go on retreat, forget about Mombasa. They can only retreat to one of the hotels in Nairobi here to sit in a boardroom and write without disruptions.
Our budget has been slashed completely. We had to forfeit between 30 and 35 per cent. The naked truth is that Treasury cannot give us money. It’s not there.
You don’t know the cards that Ruto has supplied in this government.
It’s not easy, we are facing serious challenges. If there is money, me as a commissioner, will I really have to fuel my car? No.
There are cases of forgery of academic certificates in Parliament. Is that true?
I’m the chairman of the audit committee at the commission, and some malpractices came out. Starting with academic qualifications and also issues of ID.
You find one with an ID that says he was born in 1950 and his other certificates shows he was born in 1959 or 1962. So you wonder, where did these two documents originate from?
It has been reported that many qualifications being presented are dubious. Will it make a difference when it comes to Parliament?
Scrutiny must take place and they must try to find out, ‘Are there things like that that have happened?’
We are yet to receive the report (on fake certificates). It’s just the other day that we asked them to look at it because there are complaints by Kenyans outside.
We will have to get verifications of their certificates done in the best way possible without witch-hunting or trying to bring someone down. We want Kenyans to work for what they qualify for.
In case the verification exercise confirms fake papers, will the commission sack those involved?
Once the exercise is completed, then we go to the next stage. A commission sits down and makes decisions. It’s wrong to start predicting now what will happen when the results are not yet out. We need to see the outcome of the work that is being done. Maybe someone was put somewhere by mistake.
You will probably note that many people who are working in Parliament were brought by political arrangements. And if it comes to political arrangements, there is no arrangement for qualifications.
We have professionals, good workers in Parliament. We have the Department of Human Resources, they know what to do. I don’t want to direct them.
It appears there is a lot of infighting in government. Some CSs and MPs are fighting. What’s happening?
Go and read the history of this country when it comes to politics.
If you ask where this war is coming from, I would tell you, if Jaramogi did not address it, Muthama will not be able to address it.
What caused that (previous infighting in successive governments) is what is causing this. The set-up in Kenya, we are not talking about one political party or one term of leadership; it’s a continuous process.
The DNA of our Kenyans needs to be taken to our creator and be asked to change and make us behave like one united country. Even if we go into different political parties, we don’t look at issues other than competence.
How is Ukambani now in terms of support for UDA?
We got 30 per cent of the votes in Ukambani. It was a challenge to get that percentage. But having now Ukambani people, those who live there because it’s not only Kambas alone, realising that Ruto is not easy to be defeated, they would decide to join the government and the numbers may change.
How’s your relationship with CS Alfred Mutua?
Mutua is a CS. He was a governor whom I never agreed with anything he did because he did wrong things, but you will see them later. Certain things have been hidden quite well but they will come out one day. He’s a CS and I’m a commissioner. He has his own work to do, I have my own to do. We have absolutely nothing personal.
What’s your view on the planned UDA grassroots elections?
Elections will be good. When we left, we had laid down the best way possible to approach on the elections. When I was the chairman, we had the highest number of members of Parliament elected. We had the highest number of competitors in all elective positions. But you never heard allegations of bribery or money being given to issue certificates. That was under my leadership. And that is how serious I am.
Nobody could attempt to approach any of our officials and give them money to issue a certificate. That person will go to jail. And I gave that order. That set-up that I left there is what is going to be followed now, maybe some better improvements.