Former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi on Saturday opened up about how he regrets not signing a structured agreement with President William Ruto.
Speaking during a teachers’ event in the Igembe North area in Meru County on Saturday, Linturi noted that he and Rigathi Gachagua did not sign any agreement with the president when the other Kenya Kwanza leaders were signing an agreement using political parties.
Linturi said that he and the impeached deputy president decided to trust William Ruto without any agreement, something that he now regrets.
“When we went with William Ruto, we worked so hard and got the government. The only thing I regret is that when everybody else was negotiating using a political party and signing agreements, Gachagua and I said NO, let us proceed; we trust you. We said ‘tuende hakuna shida’,” Linturi said.
The former Cabinet Secretary noted that not signing an agreement made him and Rigathi Gachagua an easy target for removal from the government.
He asked the Meru resident to learn from the mistake that he and the impeached deputy president did and plan themselves well for the journey ahead.
“I can tell you for free and without any fear that when you are making negotiations, you should come out stronger and better and you cannot be easily targeted. I will tell you, today I really regret,” he said.
Lintur is among at least six former Cabinet Secretaries who lost their positions in the new changes that were announced by President William Ruto in July.
President Ruto dismissed his cabinet secretaries on July 11 following the heightened protests by the Gen Zs in the country.
"Upon reflection and listening keenly to what the people of Kenya have said and after a holistic appraisal of the performance of my cabinet and its achievements and challenges, I have today, in line with the powers given to me, decided to dismiss with immediate effect all the cabinet secretaries and the attorney general from the cabinet of the Republic of Kenya except the prime cabinet secretary and cabinet secretary for foreign and diaspora affairs," Ruto said then.