Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria on Saturday, March 25, urged President William Ruto's administration to utilise tactics employed by his neighbouring Heads of State in a bid to tame Azimio leader Raila Odinga.
Speaking during an interview with the BBC, Kuria referenced Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, in terms of how they dealt with their opponents.
Without clearly singling out specific tactics, Kuria affirmed that Ruto's government would do "whatever it takes."
“We had very transparent elections, we went all the way to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court pronounced itself. Every time coming to prosecute an election, then it means that we are going to deal with him the way Paul Kagame deals with his opponents, the way Museveni deals with his opponent. There’s no other way," Kuria noted.
The Trade CS also pointed out past former regimes whereby he accused Raila of arm-twisting the former presidents into agreeing to his demands.
“He has had it good for too long. He had it with (former president Mwai) Kibaki, Kibaki is no more, he is dead and gone. He had it with (former president) Uhuru. He will not have it again, take it from me. There’s not going to be any dividend for democracy,” Kuria stated.
While alluding to the Azimio demonstrations, the former Gatundu South Member of Parliament disregarded the call to lower the cost of living; accusing Raila of trying to solicit power.
“What is happening in Kenya has got nothing to do with the cost of living. It is just nothing but economic terrorism because our opposition is aware that we are on a takeover but we are going to do what we need to do,” he stated.
He added that Raila ought to employ other tactics in his arsenal such as lobbying in Parliament to lower the cost of living.
“We are not ready to talk with him, on what? He is a member of the party, the leader of the opposition, he’s got sizeable members in Parliament, he can make his case within Parliament but this rewarding him for undermining institutions…losing elections all the time and coming to say talk to me, about what?” Kuria pointed out.
The former legislator noted that President Ruto's government had managed to bring down the cost of most prices and would continue to lower the cost of living for the benefit of all citizens.
"It's an interplay of the global factors and domestic issues around climate change. We are doing the best we can as a government to mitigate that and bring down the cost of living. The prices of most commodities have come down, some within 35 to 40 percent even within the prevailing circumstances which are not bad," the CS reiterated.
