Respect the Presidency, Prime CS Mudavadi say amid outrage over bad governance

Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi has called on Kenyans to respect the Presidency as an institution and symbol that unites the country amid growing public outrage over bad governance and rampant cases of corruption.

Despite the very public institutions having been cited as perpetrators of corruption by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and other independent public offices including that of the Auditor General and Controller of Budget, Mudavadi said Kenya will thrive and prosper when the institutions that give guidance are respected, nurtured and protected.

“The most critical institution in our constitution is the Presidency. There are many ways to guard and protect the Presidency, you can do it in a very specialised way, the way our security do it. You can also do it by being a dedicated public servant and maintaining dignity and decorum to that office. As a citizen you can also protect the Presidency by respecting the constitution and rule a law,” Mudavadi said.

“We need to ask ourselves, in our society today do we see Kenyans who are ready to guard and protect our institutions?” he paused.

He made the remarks while  speaking in Trans Nzoia county and urged Kenyans not to destroy their institutions for they hold a great place in the future of the nation.

He warned that the biggest threat to any nation is when critical institutions are dismantled and undermined not to function.

“Many think that the biggest threat to a nation is terrorism, no. You try touch the guiding institutions and see where the country will be,” he cautioned.

Mudavadi also emphasized on the need for the country to remain united, urging Kenyans to shun the culture of lies that breeds division, misinformation and waters down the progress of honesty and truthful facts.

“Let us discourage this emerging culture where Kenyans are believing in lies, always talking lies, eating lies, sleeping lies and waking up in lies, let us be modest and truthful for the sake of the future of this country,” Mudavadi added.

He regretted that leaders have now become at the centre of misleading the citizens and spreading falsehood especially against the government.

“The other day we went with the President to the funeral mass service of the Pope. It was in broad daylight, a very solemn and dignified moment and very honourable. This is the symbol of the Catholic Church, being graciously respected by the whole world, over 50 Heads of State, 10 Monarchs, more than 100 Heads of Government and the Catholics had organized themselves with extremely elaborate protocols on how they received the Heads of State who were assigned Bishops to usher them and lead them where they were designated to sit. It was very orderly, then unfortunately some very senior politicians in Kenya started peddling lies that candles were being given to Presidents and that the candle of President Ruto went off. And I really said we have a lot of problems, this was in broad daylight and how on earth will you be lighting candles when we have all those Heads of State, that could be a very serious security risk,” Mudavadi explained.

“It struck me and I said we have digressed to the lowest level particularly as leaders to go and stand in a church and lie over a very solemn moment. Until you ask yourself where do we want to go as country and what are we looking for?” Mudavadi paused.

Mudavadi was attending the funeral service of Mama Judith Mwaitsi Maloba, the sister to Joseph Busiega, the Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary in Sitatunga, Kitale in Trans Nzoia County.