President Uhuru Kenyatta was full of praise for Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i describing him as his hero.
Speaking during his tour of Kisii Wednesday, Uhuru thanked the Abagusii community for giving him a ‘trusted and humble leader’ who stepped in after his Deputy neglected his duties and chose a ‘dangerous path of dividing the country’.
“The insults will not stop us from telling the truth. You continue with your talks as we concentrate on work. We will see who will complete this successfully. We must tell each other the truth, even as we say goodbye, not about moving away or death, but a retirement goodbye,” Kenyatta said.
He added: “I am here today to thank the residents of Kisii and Nyamira counties for working with me. I am grateful to the Abagusii community for giving me heroic and fearless leaders who are not swayed or threatened for working with me. What I have achieved in my leadership could not be possible without this team led by Matiang’i. He has been my bulldozer, my hero.”
President Kenyatta continued: “These heroes you see here today are being abused because of their heroic deeds. I thank them for standing with me to the last minute without being swayed to the sides.”
Uhuru at the same time defended his handshake with Raila Odinga saying he had achieved more as a result.
“He has been claiming that the handshake brought trouble and that no work is going on. We have been able to achieve three times more as the opposing lot was busy pulling out the tyres from our vehicle. Since I put my brother Matiang’i as the chairman of government projects, work has been going on well,” Uhuru said.
CS Matiang’i on his part reciprocated the gratitude and trust shown by Uhuru Kenyatta.
“Thank you for the trust and faith you have bestowed on me. You took me as your younger brother. We have spent a lot of time together. Thank you. I wasn’t the most deserving, nor special. You trusted me. It has been an experience of my life. I had a central seat in your administration. You love Kisii people. I ask them to unite and vote for Mr Odinga. You have showed us the direction and that is what we will follow,” the CS said.
Uhuru continued to drum up support for Raila saying he has the interests of Kenyans at heart.
“Let us do the right thing for this country. Let us not be blinded by short-term deals… Better this old man who will continue working with the Interior CS to do a clean job. And we have told him (Odinga) that we are not supporting him blindly; we want our agenda to go on. You know we have an agenda and we have soldiers and when the general goes on retirement, it doesn’t mean that the sergeant and corporals are also retiring. They must continue working,” he said.
