Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria on Wednesday, February 21, gave a glimpse into cabinet meetings during the Kenya Kwanza retreat held in Naivasha this week.
In a media interview, Kuria besides revealing how President William Ruto has been holding Cabinet Secretaries accountable, disclosed how the Head of State appreciates aides and senior government officials who challenge his ideologies with evidence to support their arguments.
The CS singled out economic advisor David Ndii who he insisted is fond of opposing Ruto's policies during cabinet meetings.
CS Kuria compared the cabinet meetings atmosphere to a university, where the bright student challenges his teacher's thought process for hours.
"He (Ruto) does his homework, he reads. If you go to his office, he will want to listen to the most junior person. He likes people who push back because within that engagement a lot gets to come out," Kuria revealed.
"There's another guy who's great at pushing back. He is Dr.David Ndii. He's the real Freidrick Engels to the Karl Marx. It's like a university class, the amount of intellectual discourse that goes on within some of our meetings is unbelievable."
Kuria, who is also known to speak his mind, confessed that Ndii is fearless during the meetings and often holds Ruto to account for some of the policies.
"People out there think it's fun or just about being criticised. It's a small university that happens for many hours. Ndii is fearless and he's that guy. To be the chair of the Council and he led us into developing this plan and the partnership between him and the president is unbelievable," he added.
He further disputed claims from observers who claimed that the president carries an aura around him that portrays the image of a no-nonsense character who may seem strict and unapproachable.
"The president is very interactive. Amazingly, he knows the deeper issues. Everybody understands their ministries but he knows everybody's ministry. So you can imagine the body of knowledge that he brings along so he will take you up on your docket. It's great to get a feel and know what it is like to be a president," he explained.
Videos circulating online showed President Ruto reading the riots act to the CSs about their performances in their respective dockets during the Naivasha retreat.
Some of the issues discussed were corruption, performance delivery as well as assessing the status of the country.
"We cannot allow integrity issues to derail the plan we have. We have a population with a legitimate expectation of us. They have a track record of my performance so they judge me by a higher standard than would have been ordinarily the case. Because we work together, you are judged by those same standards," Ruto stated.
