Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi (L) and Tharaka Nithi Senator Kithure Kindiki. PHOTOS | FILE NATION MEDIA GROUP
Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi has praised President Kenyatta’s appointments of parastatal heads and in particular that of former head of Public Service Francis Muthaura.
Mr Murungi, an Alliance of Kenya Party senator dismissed criticism by a group of Meru politicians that the region was given a raw deal, saying on the contrary, President Kenyatta has been "very fair" to the area.
"I think it is a very wise and well thought-out appointments and we the people of Meru are very happy with the appointment of Mr Muthaura especially because we know the sacrifices that he has made for the country and his vast experience in government," Mr Murungi said on Monday. (READ: Leaders fault Uhuru on new State jobs)
Delving into the storm created by a group of politicians from the larger Meru that has especially greeted Mr Muthaura’s appointment to head LAPSSET, Mr Murungi, a former cabinet minister in President Kibaki’s government, also singled out for praise the picking of his party’s chairman, Titus Ibui, to chair the Kenya Leather Development Council’s board.
"To me, Uhuru’s government has done very well for Meru and those (from the region) criticising him are being unfair to him. We are also aware that he is still doing making more appointments in government and so the criticism is premature," he said.
On Sunday, Tharaka Nithi Senator Kithure Kindiki (TNA) asked the President to reconsider the appointments from the region saying they were skewed in favour of one small area in the larger Meru. (READ: Region got a raw deal, says senator)
Prof Kindiki, also the Senate Majority Leader, asked President Kenyatta to give priority to Tharaka Nithi county, Igembe and Nyambene areas saying doing otherwise would entrench a long standing problem of unequal opportunities and allocation of resources. "As leaders from the greater Meru, we express our concern with those appointments and are asking the President to urgently review them and give priority to Tharaka Nithi, Igembe and Nyambene areas," said Prof Kindiki on Sunday.
'NOT CORRECT'
But Mr Murungi argued that the critics were "not entirely correct" on their claims of unequal distribution of positions in President Kenyatta’s government.
In Tharaka Nithi for instance, he singled out Prof Kindiki as one of the high-fliers and influential appointees in government, as the Senate Majority Leader. "For Tharaka, Kindiki is the leader of the Majority and indeed he is the one of the people who talks to the President directly more than anyone else," said the former Energy minister.
Led by Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi, (TNA) a group of politicians from the region comprising MPs and county assembly representatives have planned a meeting on Tuesday morning in Meru to discuss the appointments which they term discriminative and divisive. (READ: State House backs new parastatal heads)
But on Monday, the former Energy minister asked them to instead focus on having more consultations "as a community instead of embarrassing ourselves in public with such misleading statements".
He described Mr Muthaura as the most suitable person to head the LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority having been key in formation of the National Economic and Social Council which developed Vision 2030 with LAPSSET as a flagship project.
"If Muthaura was not such a humble person, he would actually be out there saying that LAPSSET was his idea. I think it is very good that the President has appointed him to that project because he knows more about it than any other Kenyan," said Senator Murungi.
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