Former Senior Advisor to President William Ruto, Moses Kuria, has criticised the broad-based government for relying on outdated political tactics to tackle the challenges facing Kenyans.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Kuria argued that the current political system suffers from deep-rooted problems, yet leaders continue to prescribe temporary fixes.
He singled out both the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) for dragging their feet on implementing the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) report.
According to Kuria, he initially expected the report to pave the way for a referendum in the 2027 polls, but that prospect now appears unlikely.
While acknowledging the importance of the report, Moses Kuria stressed that implementing NADCO would be key to addressing the country’s deep-rooted political challenges.
"I was clinging to the hope that the NADCO process would culminate in a referendum, most likely as the 7th ballot during the 2027 general elections," Kuria remarked.
He added: "Because as I have said before, we have a malignant tumour in our body politic which we keep trying to heal through anaesthesia such as handshake, broad-based government etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseam."
Kuria warned that, much like the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), the NADCO report risked collapsing unless decisive action is taken.
The former Public Service Cabinet Secretary also faulted the exclusion of other parties within Kenya Kwanza and Azimio during Monday’s joint parliamentary meeting between ODM and UDA at State House.
"Sadly, what I saw yesterday was an otherwise promising national moment being reduced to a dowry paid by UDA to ODM. Not even other constituent parties in both Azimio and Kenya Kwanza were consulted," he said.
Kuria’s criticism came just hours after the joint parliamentary group meeting at State House, Nairobi, on Monday, August 18. The meeting, attended by President William Ruto, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, was expected to foster unity between the two sides.
