President Uhuru Kenyatta on 22 November 2018 publicly aired his frustration with his Cabinet, accusing some secretaries of demanding huge sums for basic projects, dragging their feet on delivery and spending too much time on politics.
Speaking in Mombasa on Monday, the President said he had turned to Chief of Kenya Defence Forces Samson Mwathethe to chair the Blue Economy committee because he did not believe Cabinet secretaries would move fast enough without first asking for billions.
“We were being told it’s a difficult journey. We started it with the general [Mwathethe]. I told him I want you to help me with this job. Because I knew if I go to the Cabinet secretaries I will be told about billions. I don’t know how many billions are required,”
The remarks came as he launched the Kenya Coast Guard Service and signed executive orders creating the Kenya Fisheries Corporation and the Bandari Maritime Academy, part of his push to revive the Blue Economy and fishing sector.
Uhuru’s criticism was not new. In April 2018, while touring the Sh300 million donor-funded eye and dental unit at Tenwek Mission Hospital in Bomet, he said the government would set aside a similar amount and warned Health CS Sicily Kariuki and PS Peter Tum that they were on notice.
“I have been taken through this facility and I have seen how it is built. PS, CS just know that you are on notice,”
He returned to the same theme on 16 October 2018 during the Small and Medium Enterprises Presidential Roundtable, where he said he was ashamed after hearing complaints from business owners and questioned why projects commissioned a year earlier had not started even after funds were released.
“I came with a prepared speech but after listening to you, I am so ashamed that I can’t read it. I will be lying to you if I read the contents of my speech. I am ashamed after the revelations made here,”
“I am sorry that we have not fulfilled our promises. Not even one of my CSs has set foot in Gikomba market,”
“We have neglected SMEs that pay taxes and employ 75 per cent of our people. This is not the way we should work. We have to change. We can’t continue putting on suits and entertaining big business people in our offices yet we have no time for SMEs. We have to be honest with ourselves,”
At that meeting, the President also said some officials were sleeping on the job and warned against endless politicking, a remark widely read as a swipe at Cabinet secretaries already being drawn into the 2022 succession debate. Among those mentioned were Sports CS Rashid Echesa and Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa, with Echesa openly backing Deputy President William Ruto.
The 2022 succession politics were already shaping the Cabinet conversation in 2018, even as Uhuru refrained from a major shake-up. Despite the public complaints, he had not purged his team, having only made a minor reshuffle of Principal Secretaries and swapped Trade CS Adan Mohammed with East African Affairs counterpart Peter Munya after forming the Cabinet eight months earlier.
That restraint drew criticism from civil society activist Ngung’u Wainaina, who told The Star that the President’s public lamentations pointed to weakness and indecision.
“He knows the cost of projects is highly inflated. His CSs are not performing,”
The article also noted that during his first term, Uhuru frequently changed Cabinet personnel. It further pointed to Auditor General Edward Ouko’s reports, which had continued to expose major financial and procurement irregularities in government.
Another example cited was the Kenanie Leather Park in Athi River, where officials had pushed for the President to commission the project even though floods had swept it away. The investment was put at Sh500 million, and the event was later canceled quietly. Industrialization CS Peter Munya, who was then new in the docket, also sought answers internally and asked who had assessed the land, saying he had been told the site was a swamp.
“Who carried out the assessment of the suitability of the land? Since I am told the entire project has been swept by the rains apparently because the land is a swamp,”
By the end of 2018, the public record showed a President openly dissatisfied with his team, but still unwilling to carry out the sweeping Cabinet purge many had expected.
Related archive note ¶
The source material also links back to a 2017 reference on Uhuru’s top concerns as Kenyans marked the 54th Jamhuri Day, underscoring that the Blue Economy push had been in the public conversation before the 22 November 2018 remarks.
