Why Murkomen, Chirchir, Duale always sit pretty

President William Ruto has conveniently ignored the chorus of condemnation against Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale despite the CS’s glaring shortcomings that frequently spill out through his occasional tirades against critics and the media.

Some now believe that it is because Duale is one of the President's bosom buddies, just like his colleague Kipchumba Murkomen of Internal Security.

Another of the President’s blue-eyed boys, Davis Chirchir, currently serving in the Transport docket, was in the past found wanting over oil importation scandals, the G-to-G oil deal and pricing controversies in the Ministry of Energy. It does not make matters any better that his name was dropped myriad times in the infamous Chickengate scandal that had IEBC materials’ printers jailed in the UK.

The three, all longtime Ruto political allies, were among the special few who were retained in the Cabinet after he sacked all other CSs following the Gen Z protests that rocked the country in June last year.

Political pundits say President Ruto’s trust in close allies runs opposite to President Mwai Kibaki, who fired Democratic Party colleagues Chris Murungaru and David Mwiraria and never reappointed them after they were mentioned in the multi-billion Anglo Leasing scandal by whistle-blower John Githongo, who was serving as a Permanent Secretary in the President’s Office.

Duale confesses that he first met Ruto when they were campaigning against the 2005 referendum on the Constitution and became close friends with shared political ideals.

They only parted ways in 2010 during the final stages of the constitution-making process before it was promulgated by President Kibaki, a period Duale describes as very difficult.

“That is the only time I took a sabbatical leave from my bosom friend William Ruto. He was on the ‘No’ side and I was ‘Yes’ side. We agreed on principle that there were certain salient features in the draft for Muslims, pastoralists plus the Somali community and so I had to support it,” said Duale last year.

But he also revealed that together with Uhuru Kenyatta and the late John Michuki, they were double agents because they were covertly supporting Ruto’s campaign.

“We did a fundraising offline for the No camp and they got about 2.5 million votes. Ruto is not a politician you can play around with. He was a mere Agriculture Minister campaigning against the whole government including the President, Prime Minister and Vice President with state resources,” he exalted.

Duale was among ODM rebels in the 10th Parliament after Ruto’s fallout with Raila. The ODM leader, who at the time was serving as Prime Minister, successfully demanded the sacking of Ruto from the Ministry of Agriculture after the infamous maize scandal of 2008.

He was an appointee from Raila’s ODM party in the Grand Coalition government formed by President Kibaki and Raila after the 2007 post-election violence through the Kofi Annan-brokered National Accord.

The maize scandal became public in January 2009, when it emerged that maize was being looted from National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) stores across the country, after Cabinet had allowed imports to supplement local produce.

The fallout between Raila and Ruto created a big wedge in government as President Kibaki took full advantage by inviting the latter to his side of the political divide by appointing him Minister for Higher Education.

Despite stubbornly remaining in ODM, Ruto and fellow rebel Duale silently began organising to register their own party for the 2013 elections, leading to the birth of the United Republican Party (URP). Kindiki, Chirchir and former Minister for Energy Charles Keter were also founder members.

In 2013, when Ruto became Deputy President, he lobbied to get half of the positions in government allocated to his URP side of the coalition and appointed Duale Leader of Majority in Parliament.

As a URP founder member, Duale became one of Ruto’s most hawkish supporters when the latter declared his candidature for president in 2012. He was always ready to throw insults and other brickbats in his defence.

The former Dujis and Garissa Town MP thereafter emerged as one of the most powerful men in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee government, courtesy of his close relationship with Ruto.

As Leader of Majority, he whipped fellow URP MPs in Jubilee to defend Ruto’s interests when he fell out with Uhuru during their second term in 2018. That was after the now famous March 18 handshake between Uhuru and Raila.

In 2020, Uhuru embarked on a massive purge to remove URP sympathisers from positions of leadership. Murkomen was dropped as Leader of Majority in the Senate and Kithure Kindiki, another URP pillar, as Deputy Speaker.

Duale, who describes himself as President Ruto’s sycophant, was briefly spared as Uhuru unsuccessfully pleaded for his support but was eventually kicked out and replaced by former Kipipiri MP Amos Kimunya.

Ruto stubbornly remained in his position as Deputy President while leading an aggressive campaign against the government and its agenda with the support of Duale, Murkomen and Kindiki. After winning the 2022 presidential elections, Ruto awarded them lucrative Cabinet dockets.

In July last year, Ruto dismissed the entire Cabinet, only retaining Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and then Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

“I have decided to dismiss with immediate effect all Cabinet Secretaries and Attorney General of the Cabinet of Kenya except the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs and of course, the office of the Deputy President is not affected in any way,” said Ruto.

He told the country in a televised address from State House that the decision was made after he had reflected and listened to what Kenyans wanted, but it was no surprise that Duale, Murkomen, Chirchir and Kindiki were among those reappointed.

Duale has not taken personal responsibility for the massive looting of taxpayers’ money that has been going on in the Social Health Authority medical insurance scheme, as calls for his resignation grow louder.

Kenyans have demanded to be told why neither those who authorised payment nor the recipients of the money have been arrested and taken to court for making fraudulent claims.

“It is because the looting is authorised by those in charge. They are part of this syndicate otherwise people would be in custody now. They are part of it and so don’t expect anything to happen to them,” says Prof Gitile Naituli.

The appointing authority has remained silent as whistle-blowers continue unearthing damning evidence of more ghost hospitals that illegally received millions of shillings from the Ministry of Health.

Observers say Duale and Ruto have been tightly knit political allies since 2005 when they met while campaigning against the referendum to change the Constitution and so nothing will happen to him.

A week before the current massive looting in Duale’s ministry was reported, he had courted controversy and condemnation by claiming that the country is back in the 2007 political mode, now that President Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga are working together in the broad-based government.

“Ile vumbi mtapata 2027, ni kama ile ya 2007 (The dust you will see in 2027 is similar to what happened in 2007). I want to tell the man we chased, Rigathi Gachagua, that no tribe is bigger than the other in the Constitution. Don’t belittle Somalis by calling them terrorists. Matiang’i also killed many people,” warned a visibly angry Duale.

Murkomen has also emerged as the President’s staunch defender as he faces growing criticism over his extravagant lifestyle, and he admits having a weakness for the finest things in life.

He has in the short period of two and a half years served in three crucial dockets, among them Transport, Sports and now Internal Security, where he is running around the country conducting the not-so-clear Jukwaa la Usalama meetings.

“It is a waste of time and money. The best way to run a ministry is from the office, where you get daily accurate reports from officers in the field and promptly act on them. You can also hold virtual meetings. You do not need to carry people all over the country wasting money in choppers and SUVs,” says Naituli.

He also argues that given the big wastage of money happening in the country, it is clear that there are enough resources to spur economic growth, fund health and education, among other programmes.

Murkomen, who together with Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei has served as the President’s legal representative, recently attacked the church, media, and government critics, accusing them of being tribal in their evaluation of the President’s performance.

Murkomen asked why Ruto is constantly only being compared to Kenya’s second president Daniel arap Moi, who was also from the Kalenjin community, and not others like Jomo Kenyatta, Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta, who were all Kikuyus.

“It is unfair that many people, especially the church, the media and other critics of President William Ruto, want to bash him not based on facts but on tribalism,” said Murkomen.

Chirchir has also been a man under siege in the past because of the storm raised by the importation of a Sh17 billion diesel cargo at the port of Mombasa.

Raila was among leaders who also called for his immediate resignation over an alleged scam in the procurement of petroleum products through a purported Government-to-Government agreement with Saudi Arabia.

The recent spate of air and road accidents that killed hundreds of people also raised questions about his performance, even as he blamed the crashes on bad road infrastructure, driver behaviour and unroadworthy vehicles.