President William Ruto has responded to criticism directed at his administration over the state of the health sector, days after former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s remarks triggered a heated national debate.
Speaking during the launch of Umma University in Kajiado County on Tuesday, Ruto pulled a reconciliatory tone while reflecting on the Linda Mama programme initiated during Uhuru’s tenure.
According to Ruto, his administration immensely borrowed from Uhuru's Linda Mama to better the successor programme, Linda Jamii, now covering prenatal, natal, and postnatal health care for expectant mothers.
''Maybe let me use this occasion to defend my former boss, the former President. To defend him, we should be a bit more magnanimous toward him. The Linda Mama programme was a great programme that we developed under the leadership of President Uhuru, and we learnt a lot from the Linda Mama programme,'' Ruto stated.
''Because of the experiences from the Linda Mama Programme, we designed the Linda Jamii Programme, which was an improvement over its predecessor. We did not stop at it; we now even have the Universal Health Coverage.''
His remarks came as Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale took a more confrontational stance, directly criticising the former President.
Duale, subtly criticising the former Head of State without naming him directly, argued that the previous government oversaw a broken health system and claimed that Uhuru’s administration failed to implement sustainable reforms despite launching programmes like Linda Mama.
''We want to ask those who critique us in matters of health, education, and other sectors to do so with facts and figures. I do not know whether the reforms we have initiated are transformative or reducing the gains someone else made,'' Duale posed.
''If you think Linda Mama was a big thing or you, how come it has not reduced the maternal mortality rate in our country?''
Meanwhile, speaking during the Jubilee Party Special National Delegates Conference (NDC) at Ngong Racecourse, Nairobi, Uhuru listed successes in his regime, such as the Linda Mama programme, which, he said, was replaced by untried and untested projects by the Kenya Kwanza administration.
As a result, he noted that Kenyans bear the burden as they wait for the new projects to work effectively.
The former President also noted that the government should not use its resources to attack its citizens, but rather to better their lives, during his hard-hitting speech.
