MPs allied to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga have joined the clamour for the resignation of Public Service CS Justin Muturi as divisions widen in the broad-based government.
The minority MPs led by National Assembly Minority leader Junet Mohamed ganged up with their majority counterparts in demanding the immediate resignation of the former House speaker and former Attorney General .
The condemnation comes days after Muturi accused National Intelligence Service boss Noordin Haji of abducting his son Leslie.
Muturi on Tuesday said it took the intervention of President William Ruto for his son, who allegedly was being detained by NIS, to be released. However, the outburst offended a group of lawmakers allied with Ruto and Raila and who are now threatening to send him packing.
Speaking on the floor during a special sitting on Thursday, Junet accused Muturi of causing unnecessary commotion and infighting in the government.
“When the time comes and you feel the Executive you are part of, the President you are serving, or the government you are serving, are no longer compatible with your beliefs or policy, the best thing to do is to resign,” Junet said.
“If you no longer believe in what the government is doing and you are a Cabinet Secretary, just resign. You are not welded there, like a tumour or an iron bar. Just leave.”
This was the first time the opposition MPs were speaking on the matter since Muturi’s revelations of alleged abduction by state agents.
National Assembly’s Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah was the first to fire at Muturi, accusing him of sulking because he was reassigned to a lesser docket during the recent changes, following dissolution of the Cabinet.
Muturi served as attorney general before being moved to the Public Service docket following the Cabinet shake-up demanded by the Gen Z protesters last year.
REASSIGNMENT
Ichung’wah said Muturi’s outburst was due to his reassignment.
“If a Cabinet Secretary feels their current ministry is too small or they believe they are too big for that ministry, they should simply resign,” the Kikuyu MP said.
“If any Cabinet Secretary feels dissatisfied with their reassignment by the President to a ministry they perceive as ‘lower’ than their previous role, the honourable thing to do is to resign.”
Muturi on Sunday called for a national conversation on the recent wave of abductions in the country and blamed the government for having a hand in the kidnappings.
He said he chose to speak boldly about the alleged abductions because his own son was abducted at the height of the Gen Z protests by unknown people.
On Tuesday, the former Attorney General accepted an invitation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and recorded a statement in which he blamed the NIS for being behind his son’s abduction.
The government has denied having any hand in the abductions, some of them critics of government, some not.
Many consider Muturi’s stand on abductions points to his breaking ranks with the President. In his statement to the DCI, Muturi claimed that despite using his connections as a serving AG, those he thought would help have his son released failed to do so.
He said after hours of uncertainty over the fate of his son, and after denial from those in charge of security that the young man was in their custody, he decided to seek the President’s intervention.
Muturi said Ruto placed a call to NIS boss Noordin Haji from the State House pavilion, where, he said, it was confirmed to him that his son was being held by the country’s top intelligence agency.
“I heard the President ask Noordin Haji if he was holding my son; Noordin confirmed that indeed he was holding my son, and the President instructed him to release Leslie immediately,” Muturi said.
“After thanking the President, I drove out of State House and rejoined my friends in Gigiri and explained what had happened,” Muturi said.
“Slightly over an hour later, Leslie
called me to say he had been released
and was at home. I then went home
to see him.
