Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi scoffs at Ruto allies baying for CSs blood

By Erick Ludeya

Westlands Member of Parliament (MP) Tim Wanyonyi now wants politicians allied to Deputy President William Ruto to stop attacking Cabinet Secretaries perceived to be campaigning for ODM leader Raila Odinga.

Wanyonyi, who is positioning himself to clinch the Nairobi Governor’s seat, dismissed calls by a section of Jubilee legislators allied to United Democratic Alliance (UDA) demanding President Uhuru Kenyatta to fire Cabinet Secretaries Dr Fred Matiang’i (Interior), Eugene Wamalwa (Defence) and Joe Mucheru (ICT).

He reminded them that during the last elections, they were on the forefront in defending CSs who were openly campaigning for Jubilee when saying they were just doing their work as State officers.

“The shoe is now on the other foot. Last election you will remember very well when we were complaining about CSs participating in the process of election…they came out and said these are public servants just doing their work,” he said on Friday, October 28, while addressing the media in Nairobi.

“I don’t see if why, if in a function where somebody is involved and you find a CS there, that’s not a campaign,” he added.

He noted that the said CSs were not in any way campaigning for Mr Odinga and asked the UDA legislators to use their strengths in Parliament to initiate a process of removing the ministers from office.

At the same time, he received a petition from members of the civil society dubbed ‘Strugglers Movement’ calling for the extension of the ongoing voters registration exercise.

According to the activists, the exercise has not achieved Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) target of registering new voters.

According to them, at least 800,000 Kenyans have registered as voters during the exercise that is set to end in a few days.

“There is little civic education about the importance of registering as voters. We are willing and ready to help IEBC with civic education,” said Julius Owino, who lead the activists.

“We must work together to ensure that the targeted young voters are all register before the February deadline. There is willingness from many people to help, but the challenge remains the funding nightmare,” he added.

On his part, Wanyonyi supported the petition and called on the IEBC to extend the exercise to give room to more people to register as voters.

He said parliament has the ability to authorize more funding for the electoral body and promised to deliver the petition to the House for action.

“We know that the registration period ends in February next year and that means we have three more months to register more people,” Wanyonyi said.

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