How politicians protect their kin holding key jobs in crucial offices

National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula. [File, Standard] Most occupants of senior public offices have devised new tricks of insulating themselves from scrutiny whenever they are challenged or called to account for poor services or incompetence. A trend is emerging where constitutional and independent commissioners need not worry about threats to remove them from office. They need not bother about accountability and integrity questions as long as their community kinsmen are holding political seats. The holders of the independent and apolitical institutions who have been threatened with job loss due to allegations of integrity and incompetence issues have been mobilising their tribesmen to protest their innocence. The protests are meant to defend the impugned public officers claiming that any action against them would be interpreted to be an onslaught against their respective community. Among those who have been defended by their ethnic peers against actions to sack them include President William Ruto, the Head of the Executive, Chief Justice and the head of the Judiciary Martha Koome, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Moses Wetangula, the head of the third arm of government; the Legislature. With the three heads of government receiving moral and political support from their communities, other heads of institutions such as the National Intelligence Services boss, Nordin Hajji have also been insulated whenever allegations of ineptitude are raised. Gachagua is the latest crusader of this gospel to warn the President over any attempt to remove Koome from her office. According to the former DP, if the CJ is removed, the President won't be welcome in Meru County. "If you chase our Koome, don't set foot in Meru. You chased Rigathi Gachagua, and Mt Kenya people were silent-you thought they were cowards," he said last Sunday during a church service. He alleged that President Ruto was hatching a plot to oust Koome for failing to play to his tune, a move he has vowed will not go unchecked. "Martha Koome is being chased out and the Senator is silent, all the 10 MPs are silent. What is happening to the people of Meru? These are the descendants of the Mau Mau. What has happened to the leadership of Meru?" he posed. Last month, NIS boss Nordin Hajji, who was on the spot after Public Service and Human capital development Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi dragged his name over the abduction of his son Lesly Muturi, was defended by among others by Environment Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale who claimed he was being attacked because he hailed form Northeastern. "Why are people criticising now when people of this region are given these jobs, there were so many people who came before them and they have never received such criticism like this," he said. Last year, Isiolo elders led by their Chairperson Abdikadir Shariff Abdullahi and Secretary-General Idle Hassan expressed their ire over Gachagua's utterances that they claimed were aimed at inciting hatred against the community where Haji hails from. Wetangula who has been at the center of criticism over his alleged partiality in running the affairs of the National Assembly especially his decision to disregard the ruling of the court that named Azimio as the majority coalition in the National Assembly received support from a section of MPS from his backyard who vowed to stand with 'mtu yetu' come rain come sunshine. Led by Sirisia MP John Walukhe, the MPs alleged that the recent publications against him have been sponsored by detractor's keen on assassinating his character. "As MPs who participated in the election of the Speaker, we wish to note our serious disapproval of this veiled narrative that we suspect is sponsored by serious enemies of progress. We shall not allow any person to attempt to downgrade status of the Speaker," said Mary Emase, Vice Chairperson of the caucus. Dagoretti North MP Beatrice Elachi said: "You must learn to protect your people. That's what the country has become, it's not because of anyone. That's how we have made our country and that's how we will protect it. That's how other people are protecting their people." Two months ago, Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen defended the President amid criticisms of his management of the country affairs and emerging issues such as abductions and extrajudicial killings, claiming he was only targeted because he came from Rift Valley. He blamed the church, media, and government critics for playing negative ethnic politics in their evaluation of the President's performance. "Why is Ruto only being compared to former President Daniel Moi, who was also from the Kalenjin community, and not others like Jomo Kenyatta, Mwai Kibaki, and Uhuru Kenyatta, who were all from Central?" asked Murkomen. Political analysts said although the country's politics was organised through the ethnic and tribal lenses and that it has been internalized from generations, it had negatively impacted the growth of governance and democracy. Edward Kasembeli, also a communication expert, noted that the politics of clannism played a great role in the country's politics where the political class appeals to their ethnic identities to vote certain individuals to power. the implication of that has seen decisions being made at governance level based to the ethnic organization. "To a great extent, the ethnic mobilisation has gone beyond the political organisation but to sharing of public resources and government positions based on ethnicity and not by merit which is a factor undermining fair distribution of the national cake," noted Kasembeli. Dr Charles Nganga JKUAT don, said the defence of government officials based on "mtu yetu syndrome" was an obstacle to Kenya's progress towards good governance and development noting that it fueled corruption, ethnic division, and unequal distribution of resources.

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