Interior CS Kithure Kindiki has told off national officeholders who are openly pushing for ethnic interests, saying that they violate public trust.
The Interior Cabinet Secretary insisted that pursuing such an agenda is also unconstitutional.
Kindiki said that national leaders must focus on the national agenda and allow other lower-level leaders to focus on community and sub-national agendas to achieve the vision of having a united nation.
“Open and direct involvement in pursuing ethnic or other sectarian interests while holding a national office whose services are for the defence of the national interest is unconstitutional and a violation of public trust.
“If God and the people of Kenya privilege you to be the one to defend the common national interest, you must allow other lower-level leaders to be the ones spearheading family, community, and sub-national agenda. That way, the vision of one Nation, one Flag, one People will be accelerated,” Kindiki said.
The Interior CS noted that the ongoing public debate on the best ways of promoting national unity, inclusion, and shared prosperity boosts the country's democratic credentials and the quest for a free, secure and stable Kenya.
Kindiki said President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua have the constitutional duty to lead towards achieving a common national identity and sense of belonging.
He said they also have the mandate to spearhead the harmonisation of sub-national interests and the generation and projection of the collective good for Kenya as a whole.
His remarks come amid calls by a section of leaders to have the one-man, one-vote, one-shilling revenue-sharing formula used in the division of revenue.
These leaders claim that some regions are highly populated and therefore need more resources.
On Friday, Kindiki told off the leaders calling for the formula to be used.
Kindiki said leaders pushing for the adoption of the formula do not understand its implications for the future of the country.
He said the framers of the Constitution of Kenya rejected it for its potential to fuel sectional interests to the detriment of the nation as an indivisible whole.
“Proponents of the man-vote-shilling mantra neither understand its implications for Kenya's future nor do they fathom its long-term impact on the parts of Kenya they purport will benefit from it,” he said.
“The cliché is neither a scientific principle nor is it an economic model of any kind.”
Kindiki insisted that every part of Kenya is entitled to prosperity but not at the expense of any other part of the country.