Former Sports CS Rashid Echesa has spoken for the first time after being dropped from the cabinet.
While addressing mourners at a funeral in Marina village, Kakamega County, Echesa revealed that he did not know why he was fired by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He also thanked the president for giving him a chance to serve in the cabinet and asked his supporters to remain calm.
“It is within President Kenyatta’s mandate to hire and fire but still I would also want to know what happened.
I am cool and also want to urge my supporters and Luhyas to remain calm. I remain grateful to the President for offering me an opportunity to serve in his cabinet,” he stated.
Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali explained that the decision to fire was ill-informed since Echesa was among the few people who campaigned for Jubilee in Western.
“It was tough selling the Jubilee agenda in Western and Echesa was among people who went out of their way to propagate Jubilee and create in-roads for Kenyatta to access the region,” Washiali disclosed.
President Kenyatta announced that he had fired the controversial CS on Friday, March 1 and replaced him with Amina Mohamed.
Echesa had been mentioned in a number of cases that might have led to his dismissal from the cabinet.
Apart from being entangled in a money laundering case, the former CS found himself in trouble when eight Pakistani belly dancers who were arrested in Parklands, Nairobi claimed that they were in the country with his full permission.
He was also accused of paying three journalists to photoshop images of Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala in bed with a woman.
