NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct, 18 – The second day of vetting for Cabinet Secretaries Nominees at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi saw Prof Kindiki Kithure who has been nominated to head the powerful Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government take the hot seat as the 15-members Committee on Appointments sought to probe whether there were fit to hold office.
Kindiki a law professor cum politician was first asked to state his net worth, which has been a topic of interest and debate amongst Kenyans.
On Monday some of the nominees were asked similar questions with Kenyans left stunned over the net worth of what has been described as the hustler’s cabinet of President William Ruto.
Kindiki while responsive to the question said that his net worth was Sh544 million.
“My Net worth is Sh544 million. At the moment I am an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, and I practice law. I am also a business person running a number of SMEs and I am also a consultant for local and international organizations,” said Kindiki.
The valuation is drawn from land and buildings that he owns worth Sh165 million and bank deposits of about Sh50 million.
Also investments in shares and deposits at 5 different Saccos.
On how he would address the litany of complaints by officers in the National Police service, Kindiki said that his priority would be to address police welfare and revising and revising the standing orders of the police.
“The Kenya Kwanza manifesto has vowed to review the terms of service for police officers and some of the complaints officers make are actually right and justified. We shall be looking on how we will handle that within the resource constraints of the country within the mandate of the Salaries Remuneration Commission but one way of achieving the non-benefits aspects of welfare is by reviewing the existing ministry’s budget to remove non-co-expenditure and deploy it to facilitate officers” he said.
Some officers working in several parts of the country had complained of a lack of allowances despite them rendering their services to the country.
The lack of a conducive working environment has been blamed for the rising cases of mental health challenges rerouted within the service.
“If you have those in place and a well-equipped wellness counseling unit you are able to prevent cases of a psychiatric nature and sometimes fatal accidents and their families.I believe the issues around mental issues in the police service are linked to work-related stress. I intend to equip, expand and fully capitalize the wellness and counseling unit which I intend to link with the soon-to-be-established NPS hospital and the Kenya Prisons Service hospital,” he said.
Meanwhile leading toward the presidential elections, Kindiki was fronted as a possible running mate for William Ruto but eventually lost out to Rigathi Gachagua. He said that he has no ill intentions and he will work with the new DP.
“It is not true that I fought so hard to be a running mate. What is true is that I was fortunate to be on the shortlist of 6 members of my party who were being considered to be running mates for President William Ruto. There was no shock because there was no entitlement to anything. You can only get shocked if you are entitled to something,” said Kindiki.
Kindiki is said to have changed his mind about working in government after initially stating he would go a 10-year break from politics.
Coming from a scholarly background Kindiki said that he would serve with humility after the vetting committees made reference to the outgoing CS on his lack of ‘cooperation wth members of parliament.
“ I believe the ultimate trait of leadership is humility. Most people tend to confuse humility and cowardice. I will remain a servant of this country and the institutions set up under the constitution. I will obey the summons and invites and comply with all directions of Parliament and relate well with my now former colleagues,” he said.
During the morning session, MP Naisula Lesuuda passionately decried the violence and banditry that plagued her region saying that the government must honor its promise to protect its citizens against acts of aggression.
“I will stay focused until this problem is over even if it means coming to live in the north rift, not for a week or month and we will stay there as long as it is necessary. We will speak less because security does not require speaking but we will follow the law but still do the job,”
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