NEWS REVIEW 2019: How Matiang’i strolled into a political storm

For a man who started the year as President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Mr Fixit, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has continued to raise his profile as a no-nonsense state officer in 2019, earning the praise of many Kenyans on how he handles issues while leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of those that cross him.

MIXED REACTIONS

The President signalled his confidence in Dr Matiang’i by giving him sweeping powers in the Cabinet when he made him chairperson of the National Development Implementation and Communication Committee immediately the year started.

The new position, which was created courtesy of Executive Order Number One of 2019, signed on January 22, effectively made the Interior CS a first among equals in the Cabinet. By virtue of this elevated post, he was supposed to receive and deliberate on reports from the National Development Implementation Technical Committee.

Additionally, he was supposed to provide guidance, monitor and evaluate government projects in order to ensure proper utilisation and realisation of the targeted outcomes. He was also supposed to provide coordinated strategic communication to the public and other stakeholders on the progress of the projects.

The President's move, however, drew mixed reactions from a cross section of leaders, with some of Deputy President William Ruto’s allies saying it was meant to undermine the DP, largely because some of Dr Matiang’i’s new roles like the monitoring and evaluation of government projects were domiciled in the DP’s office during Jubilee’s first term.

FRONT RUNNER

Effectively, this put Dr Matiang’i on a collision course with the Deputy President, creating tension which would in the course of the year snowball into open confrontations. This is after a section of leaders started coming out to say that they will support the CS if he seeks the presidency in 2022, a position that Dr Ruto has for a long time been considered as a front-runner.

As if making him de facto Prime Minister was not enough, President Kenyatta transferred four additional state departments to the Interior Ministry. This includes the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU), Government Chemist, the National Crime Research Centre and the Commission of National Cohesion.

The addition of departments to the Interior Ministry and giving more powers to Dr Matiang’i, who was already powerful at the beginning of the year, would greatly shape his year eventually creating talk that he could be one of the contenders for the presidency come 2022.

GROWING INFLUENCE

The CS has however continuously dodged this question whenever it comes up. In August, for example, Gusii leaders asked ODM leader Raila Odinga to endorse Dr Matiang’i while in his presence. “He is a very hardworking man. As such, don’t remind me what I am supposed to do. Time is not yet ripe. Hold your horses,” the ODM chief said. The minister, like in other public events, steered clear of the matter. “Without focus, we don’t get things done. Let us focus on developing this country the way President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga designed it,” Dr Matiang’i said.

His growing influence was however not difficult to notice, like at the end of November 2019 when he led a host of pro-handshake politicians, among them six governors and at least 50 MPs, to a fundraiser in Kirinyaga. A day before that he had been dispatched by President Kenyatta to a goat auction in Kajiado County where he was accompanied by Environment CS Keriako Tobiko and Governor Joseph Lenku.

During the Kirinyaga event, Dr Matiang’i used the occasion to appreciate the President’s role in steering the government, comparing him to a family man: “A country is led like a family. Is there a family that is led by two men? No. A family is only led by one man.”

STRINGENT MEASURES

This was not taken lightly by DP Ruto’s camp as they accused Dr Matiang’i of disrespecting the DP and “creating divisions among Kenyans. Politicians allied to the DP castigated Dr Matiang’i for acting as if he was the President’s deputy. Nevertheless, with the expanded role, the Interior Ministry delivered several milestones in 2019.

“He (Matiang’i) should know that the only Deputy President we have is William Ruto. It seems that power has got into him,” Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa had complained.

The Ministry however continued to roll out police reforms which culminated in the merging of the administration police with the regular police, creation of a single police command structure, introduction of a digital Occurrence Book and a new curriculum for training the police. The standardisation course no. 1 /2019 was held at the national police college’s main campus at Kiganjo on December 18, 2019.

It also streamlined firearm licencing by introducing stringent measures in the issuance of firearm certificates that saw in excess of 5,000 firearms and over 90,000 ammunitions retrieved from illegal hands. The ministry saw the introduction of new genetic analysers at the government chemist in order to speed up investigations and bring to closure cases that otherwise had taken a long time to conclude.

BETTING GIANTS

The ministry further launched a 50 million seedlings tree planting exercise and took the courage to sanitise the gambling industry and the birth registration process. More significantly, the ministry rolled out a biometric mass registration system also known as Huduma Namba.

However, in vintage Dr Matiang’i style, some entities had to fall by the wayside in the implementation of some of his policies. Most notable is betting giants Sport Pesa and Betin, whose licences were cancelled in July, senior employees of the Birth Registration Bureau, the whole BCLB and the Fire Arm Licensing Board.

“We have to be honest to the public. The process of licensing firearms has been riddled with corruption, incompetence and misbehaviour that led to dancing illegal guns,” said Matiang’i in January while disbanding the Fire Arm Licencing Board.

ALMOST CRIPPLED

The exit of Sport Pesa, however, had far-reaching repercussions that continue to be felt up to today. The company was the official title sponsor of the Kenya Premier League, which is now almost crippled, with players going for months without pay. Dr Matiang’i has however insisted that the drastic measures he took in the gambling industry were for the good of the country.

“Data shows since we started a crackdown on gambling, change has been seen. It has not been a bed of roses but I am resolute in stopping it. No country has been built by gambling. This must be fought by every Kenyan,” says the CS.