By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- Speaking in presence of the chief guest, President William Ruto, investor Raval Nahendera, the proprietor of this Clicker plant, showered the President with praises and accolades.
- Mr President, you have been at the helm of power for less than two years and you have done a lot for the people of Kenya. He felt short of stating. Dr Ruto had achieved more compared to what his predecessors had achieved within the same period.
- Sometimes I lack words to describe your good leadership that has transformed the lives of the Kenyan people in a big way.
- 10 year is not enough to build and complete the strong foundation that you have laid out.
A section of the political leaders have in the recent past revived the debate on succession politics and presidential age limits.
An MP from North Eastern, who kicked this debate two years ago, had proposed that two five-year term limits should be removed and be replaced with age limit of 75 years.
This means a sitting President will be eligible to serve until when he or she reach that age.
The MP did not however come clearly on whether the holder of the top office in the land will be required to seek fresh mandate from electorate after every five years.
This debate was rekindled recently during the commissioning of a cement and steel factory in West Pokot.
Speaking in presence of the chief guest, President William Ruto, investor Raval Nahendera, the proprietor of this Clicker plant, showered the President with praises and accolades.
Mr President, you have been at the helm of power for less than two years and you have done a lot for the people of Kenya. He felt short of stating. Dr Ruto had achieved more compared to what his predecessors had achieved within the same period.
Sometimes I lack words to describe your good leadership that has transformed the lives of the Kenyan people in a big way.
10 year is not enough to build and complete the strong foundation that you have laid out.
I, therefore, propose that you should govern this country for the next 25 years. MP David Pkosing, who was among leaders present, threw his fully weight behind the investor.
I’m ready to craft and sponsor a motion seeking an extension of the presidential term limit.
President William Ruto has up to date steered clear of this debate.
But as the President of this country, he knew he has a responsibility to guide the citizens. This explains why he has been repeatedly telling the leaders to shun succession politics and talk of presidential term limits. Our priority right now is to fulfill the pledges we made to Kenyans.
I had earlier followed closely President William Ruto’s five-day development tour of Western Kenya.
This came hot on heel of a similar tour of the Mount Kenya region where he stayed for six days.
In Western, the President held a series of meetings with local leaders at Kakamega state lodge.
He also took the opportunity to roll out dozens of development projects and commence the process of reviving the projects that had stalled and run down.
The plan for the revival of Mumia Sugar Company was very close to his heart.
Addressing the residents of Mumias, the President assured them that he was committed to bring the sugarcane milling factory back to its feet.
I know the reasons why the efforts by the previous governments failed to bear fruits.
It is because this factory had been captured by sugar cartels, barons and brokers. For now, it will no longer be business as usual. The sugar cane farmers have suffered enough. This has come to end.
Those who have over the years been doing dubious and illegal businesses with Mumia company and thier sympathizers would not take the President’s words lightly.
They included the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga whose family company, Spectre International, was reportedly getting raw materials from this company that were being used by thier Kisumu- based Molasses plant.
They would allege that Dr Ruto’s ‘talk’ amounted to threatening the lives of the investors.
To me, the President’s words were Biblical. When you resort to stealing and destroying the livelihoods of the poor people, you should know that there is God in heaven. He is seeing you.
God is full of mercies but at a time he gets angry and His punishment can turn out to be lethal.
God gives life and He is the only one who can take it away.
President Ruto is a God fearing leader and his deeds and actions demonstrates he is fully aware of this.
Secondly, genuine investors would have no problem following the laws of the host country where they have invested.
So, the investor would not be scared when the government go for the so called investors who have broken the law of the land.
Listening to the tone of Dr Ruto’s remarks, one thing was clear.
He once again proved that he is not a vengeful or vengeance. This is contrary to what his critics wanted Kenyans to believe.
After President Ruto wrapped up his tour of Western, Kakamega senator Bonny Khalwale claimed the issue of Ruto succession had been raised and discussed in one of the meetings held at Kakamega State Lodge.
According to Khalwale, the local leaders were upbeat after the President agreed to support a leader from the region to succeed him in 2032.
In a swift rejoinder, the President reprimanded Khalwale. He asked him to stop peddling falsehoods and cheap propaganda.
As of now, the talk of succession is a hot potato issue. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Chief Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi are perceived as the front-runners.
For President Ruto, the debate is disruptive, premature and untimely.
For now, my eyes are trained and focussed on initiating and rolling out the development projects and programmes that I promised the people of Kenyans during the campaign.
I’m also looking forward to unite and reconcile the Kenyan people.
Come 2027 polls, Kenyans will judge me based on my score-card. I know it will be impressive and they will re-elect me to serve my second and final five-year term.
Well, this is not the first time we are hearing sly politicians igniting the succession debate.
This debate featured prominently during the reigns of President Mwai Kibaki and his successor Uhuru Kenyatta.
I totally agree with Dr Ruto. Politicians should keep off the debate and instead focus on helping his administration to fulfill election promises.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
