Uhuru off to Addis after meeting with DP Ruto

President Uhuru Kenyatta.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto yesterday held a private two hours morning meeting before the executive order was released that made the changes in Cabinet.

In a busy day that later saw Uhuru and Ruto separately fly out of Nairobi, the meeting was followed by the dropping of Sports minister Rashid Echesa from Cabinet and the appointment of Prof George Magoha as the new Cabinet Secretary for Education.

The meeting started at 6am, before President Kenyatta and entourage of six Cabinet and principal secretaries flew to the official opening of a high level trade forum in Addis Ababa, while Dr Ruto went to officiate the start of the Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC) meeting in Garissa Town.

Sources said based on intelligence information, the President saw it necessary to drop the Sports CS and replace him with Amina Mohamed.

While at the Addis meeting, Kenya and Ethiopia renewed their commitment to the full implementation of the the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) projects as key enablers of the transformation of the two economies.

President Kenyatta and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed agreed that the regional infrastructure initiative is central to the unlocking of the economic potential of not only Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan but that of the entire East African region. Speaking when they presided over the official opening of the two-day Kenya-Ethiopia high level trade forum, the two leaders promised to deepen trade and economic ties among the two nations.

“The LAPSSET project has great promise of transforming our countries and improving the living conditions of our people,” President Uhuru said.

“Kenya and Ethiopia resolved to partner in developing first class infrastructure projects connecting our great nations and the continent. By this I have in mind the LAPSSET project which Kenya is, for sure, still fully committed to,” he added.

The President is accompanied by CSs Charles Keter (Energy), Peter Munya (Trade), Simon Chelugui (Water), Henry Rotich (Treasury), Joe Mucheru (ICT) and Monica Juma (Foreign Affairs).

Others are PSs Dr Chris Kiptoo (Trade), Kamau Thugge (Treasury), and Central Bank Governor Paul Njoroge, MPs Junet Mohamed (Suna East) and his Limuru counterpart James Mwathi.