Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa has defended President William Ruto’s move to have additional advisors, despite announcing that he would reduce the number to half as part of austerity measures.
Speaking on KTN, Barasa said Kenyans should not focus on the number and instead look at the value they bring onboard.
He said that these advisors should be re-evaluated at least after one year, insisting that they are the link between the many sectors in the country.
The MP added that he does not see the advisors as many because they each have a role they play.
“Kenyans should not focus on the number of advisers advising the President, but should focus on the output; what is it that these advisors are bringing to the table. We have very many sectors in the country and this sectors have been complaining about lack of the government hearing their views and their problems and these many advisors, who to me are not many, they just represent the various sub-sectors we have in the country and their role and responsibility is to provide linkage with the sectors.
“I want to challenge those saying the president has many advisers to wait at least a year, and then we can re-evaluate the benefits the advisers have brought to the Head of State,” Barasa said.
He reiterated that President William Ruto was very clear when he said he was reducing the number of advisors by half.
Barasa noted that the recent appointment of Professor Makau Mutua as advisor on constitutional affairs does not change the fact that the number was reduced by half.
He said that he personally knows of about 12 individuals who left advisor jobs after the President’s announcement.
“The first thing we need to understand is that the President was very clear when he said he needed to reduce the number of advisors by 50 per cent. I am very aware that some of those advisors left government, others were redeployed in offices, and the addition of Makau Mutua doesn’t increase the number to over half. When Gen Z protests,d many of the advisors, I know of about 12 attached to various offices, the majority of them left,” the legislator stated.
