Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho has warned leaders against riding on President Uhuru Kenyatta's development track record to advance their political ambitions.
Speaking in Kirinyaga on Friday, August 13, Kibicho accused some politicians of taking credit for various development projects across the country yet they had not played any role in their realization.
Kibicho added that any politician or leader taking credit for work not done and is not working with the President is automatically qualified to be his enemy.
The PS, who was leading the National Development Implementation Technical Committee to inspect projects in Kirinyaga County, said the expansion of road networks and other infrastructural developments in the country will spur economic growth.
"Yule mtu hafanyii Uhuru kazi ni adui yangu… sisi tukuwe watu ambao wanaangaliana uso kwa uso na kusema tumeleta barabara… kama hatuendi bara bara moja hakuna haja ya kukaa na nyinyi tukiongea…(Any person not working for Uhuru is my enemy. Let us be people who can look each other in the eye and defend what we have done. If we are not talking the same language, then there is no point of staying on the same side),” said Kibicho.
"If you want to empower rice farmers, for example, who have been strangled by cheap imports, lack of markets and interference of the value chain, you don’t empower them by slogans but rather ensuring that you secure the markets."
Kibicho argued that the infrastructural investment will offer a long-lasting solution to securing economic benefits for Kenyans.
He was accompanied by PS Paul Maringa (Transport) and Joseph Irungu (Water). During the tour, he inspected the ongoing progress of the Mwea Thiba Dam which is expected to benefit rice farmers.
The dam is expected to bring an extra 10,000 acres of land in Kirinyaga under irrigation.
"This project is a perfect example of how you can improve production. You must invest and provide the farmers with the necessary infrastructure to increase production. This is why the government is spending Ksh8 billion to ensure water is available for the two rice-growing seasons in a year," he noted.
