Nzioka Waita Reveals How Uhuru Runs State House

File image of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
File image of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

State House Chief of Staff, Nzioka Waita, has announced that he will continue to serve in his current role until February 9 before tendering his resignation.

Nzioka declared interest in the Machakos County gubernatorial seat in the forthcoming General Election. 

"On that day, I will then make a farewell call to the president and ask for his blessings and support as well as thank him for allowing me to serve the people of Kenya,” Waita stated in an interview on Citizen TV on Tuesday, February 1. 

File image of President Uhuru Kenyatta and State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita.
File image of President Uhuru Kenyatta and State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita.

He also shared inside details of State House and how the Head of State runs his affairs, stating that they occasionally sleep in the office owing to President Uhuru Kenyatta's hectic schedule.  

Further, he noted that at times State House staff go home in the wee hours of the morning after the President has left the office and report for duty early the next day.

"We sleep in the office. He leaves the office at 5 am. You guys will see the president at 10 am everything looks good but we are operating on one hour or two hours of sleep,"  he stated.

Waita, who has served as the president's Chief of Staff since 2016, explained that Uhuru is still committed to delivering on his agenda despite the criticism that he often gets from the public and opposition politicians. 

He rated Uhuru's delivery at 70 per cent arguing that development projects slowed down in the last two years after the pandemic affected the economy. 

However, Waita noted that some sectors such as health did not collapse in the wake of the pandemic owing to significant investments made in the sector and Uhuru's steadfast leadership. 

"The pandemic devastated our economy and were it not for some of the investments and the fiscal prudence of the Treasury, CBK and the leadership of President Kenyatta, we would not have managed to come out unscathed,” he explained.

Statehouse Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita
A file image of State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita
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