Garissa Township MP, Aden Duale has detailed his brief pause after President Uhuru Kenyatta interrupted his media rant after the State of the Nation address.(SOTN).
Appearing a TV interview on Wednesday, December 1, Duale noted that he had a lot of respect for the President but that did not prevent him from being brutally honest in calling out errors in his administration.
He noted that his friendship with Uhuru dated back 13 years ago and he has been frank with him at all times.
"I was facing the camera, then all of a sudden the camera moved away to the other, so I had to look back to find out what's happening, then I realized the president was passing.
"I made my remark on the floor of the House and I can make it here as well. From my background, I like saying it the way it is so if you ask me to repeat what I said here I will say it but there is a lot of respect for the President," he stated.
Unconvinced by the answer, KTN News anchor Ken Mijungu who was hosting the night show continued to interrogate Duale's sentiments- posing as to why the legislator stammered after spotting the President.
"I think the media should have had two or more cameras to cover both angles as I wanted them to continue so that Uhuru can also hear what I had to say," Duale reiterated.
Speaking after the SOTN, Duale had slammed Uhuru for arriving late for the function at Parliament Buildings, at nearly 3:45 pm contrary to the ceremonial 2:30 pm, and read a 200-plus page speech.
He lamented that by arriving late, the President undermined members of parliament as he had contravened stipulated timelines.
“The President went further and attacked the Judiciary and particularly judges… some of them… some of them, who were at the gallery,” Duale stuttered as he turned back to see Uhuru walking towards him.
The legislator went on to rant about issues that Uhuru should have addressed such as the strained relationship between the executive and the Judiciary, extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances that have happened in the recent past.
"Judge Daniel Musinga (Court of Appeal President) was at the gallery and the President basically attacked him. The President cannot use the floor of Parliament to attack the Judiciary. He kept on lamenting about BBI, BBI is null. We expected the President, on matters of national security, to speak on the extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearances, but he did not.
“He was right to outline his achievement but the Constitution provides him certain issues he needed to address. National Security, the national debt. You cannot talk about Kenya’s GDP growing and the country being the sixth wealthiest in Africa when we are grappling with debt,” Duale ranted.
The Head of State's SOTN address elicited mixed reactions from various politicians as some criticised the length as well as matters Uhuru should have addressed, while others lauded him for pointing out the key issues within the country.
