Kahiga denies calling for Chirchir sacking, says he instead wants Murkomen fired

Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga.[Elvis Ogina,Standard]

Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga has denied that he called on President William Ruto to sack Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir over the recent nationwide power outages.

He however says that he wants Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen fired after the blackout affected the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

On December 13, taking to X (formerly Twitter) Governor Kahiga refuted the claims saying that he only referred to CS Chirchir in the Jamhuri Day speech by saying that he was at the JKIA during the blackout that hit the country on December 10.

"I wish to clarify that I never demanded the sacking of CS Davis Chichir for the recent power failure in my Jamhuri Day speech. All I said is that I was with Waziri at the JKIA when the blackout happened.  I said he frantically made calls to have power restored," he said.

Kahiga further stated that the power failure at JKIA is a national embarrassment calling for CS Murkomen to be held accountable for the failure of backup power sources.

"What I said and still maintain is that power failure in JKIA is a national embarrassment.  I asked the President to sack the CS concerned with Airports. I also said that all Cabinet secretaries letting down the President must be shown the door,” he added.

He urged President Ruto to dismiss any CS who are underperforming despite his daily tight schedule to work harder. 

“I reminded all and sundry that it cannot be business as usual if the President is in office at 6 am and doesn't leave till midnight while the CSs he has given jobs continue letting him down! I still maintain this same stand!” he said.

He said that he was misquoted in the speech that he gave at the Dedan Kimathi stadium.

"The President wakes up as early as 6:00 am and at times stays until late in the night trying to improve the state of the country. I recently came back from a broad...the power was off...such a Cabinet Secretary should be fired," he said in his speech.

He urged President Ruto to fire any Cabinet Secretary who was sleeping on the job and replace them with any of the millions of others who are willing and capable.

"There are some CSs who are just moving around, power goes off all the time...they should be sacked. I want to say that if they are underperforming, Kenya has over 50 million people and they can even find more CSs from the Nyeri region," he added.