The Deputy President William Ruto’s recent utterances on the plan to reverse key Jubilee government projects have unsettled President Uhuru Kenyatta’s camp in the current race to get to the House on the hill.
Ruto is looking to streamline some of the key projects, including the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), the competency-based curriculum (CBC), whose first cohort is in Grade Six.
Ruto is looking to restructure the Managed Equipment Services (MES) project and stop the bailing of struggling state companies.
The MES arrangement requires counties to pay Sh100 million every year to lease equipment from the national government.
The SGR deal has rattled several Uhuru allied leaders who have said that DP is being irrational in his pursuit of the presidency.
“It was never the intention of the government to build the SGR and frustrate small businesses in the Coast. It was meant to make the port more efficient and to improve services,” said an analyst.
“Unfortunately, a few people took advantage of the project and ended up with selfish programmes to the detriment of Coast residents.”
Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui termed the plans by the DP as economic sabotage.
“My only question is, is Nakuru not part of Kenya? Instead of engaging in conversations on how to enlarge the national cake and reach everyone, we are entertaining retrogressive policies targeting certain regions for short-term political expediency,” he said.
On the other hand, Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata insisted that the move by the DP was not to kill Nakuru’s economy.
“A ‘hustler’ government will establish a free economic zone in Naivasha, where companies will get tax waivers.
That will create employment for many. The current SGR is far away from Naivasha and terminates in a private land and locals don’t benefit,” he said.
Kang’ata reassured Kenyans that the DP had their interest at heart, saying that majority of the projects were started as conduits for looting public coffers.