Kalembe Ndile speaks on political future, economy and degree course

Kalembe Ndile speaks on political future, economy and degree course

Former Kibwezi Member of Parliament Kalembe Ndile has spoken about a string of issues including his political future, the country’s cash crunch and his degree course.

In a one-on-one interview with Citizen Digital, Kalembe first attributed the current cash crunch on duplication of roles in government and bloated public service.

Kalembe, who is a member of the Water Services Regulatory Board and chair of technical committees in the board, said Kenyans should speak out on the current financial situations in the country instead of staying mum.

Solution to financial crisis

He claimed that new roles outlined in the Constitution have led to a bloated wage bill that has in turn weighed Kenyans down.

“The new Constitution is burdening and Kenyans should speak out about it,” said Ndile.

“There is a high scale duplication of roles both in central and county government because other civil servants were hired to add to the already existent number from the old system of governance,” he said.

Kalembe Ndile said the country has been forced to dig deep to cater for salaries of government officials in the counties and central government noting that some of the ministries in counties should be changed into boards.

“Counties have ministries to cater for different departments including roads, health, sports and finance which is a duplicate of the central government’s cabinet secretaries that also has directors in different ministries as well as permanent secretaries.”

He also mentioned that some parastatals, like the Kenya Rural Roads Authority and Kenya Urban Roads Authority, and ministries of transport in counties and national government are separated by just a handful of roles which can be handled by one body.

“There are also two parliaments, the National Assembly and the Senate, whose roles can be merged into one; and many commissions that should only act as board and not permanent jobs.”

“There should be harmonisation of roles in public institutions to cut down on the wage bill to a manageable level,” proposed Kalembe Ndile.

He further observed that commissions such as the Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC), Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), among others should be turned into advisory boards whose members are only paid when they convene.

Pursuing a degree course

The former Kibwezi legislator also divulged that he is pursuing a degree course in Business Administration to ‘formalise his knowledge’ in business, though we could not immediately establish which year he is in.

Despite remaining coy on the matter, there are indications that Kalembe could be pursing the degree course to be able to meet the required threshold to run for a high political office.

Political future

Kalembe further told his rivals not to rule him out in the next election saying he is still politically-active.

He could not specify which one, between gubernatorial and senatorial positions, he would run for though insisting that he is prepared to face any opposition.

Kalembe differed with the Constitutional requirement for set academic qualifications attached to political offices saying leadership is God-given.

“We went wrong when we used education as a yard stick to determine which people should hold which offices,” he said.

“It is paramount to note that leadership is a gift and cannot be learned in school because there are several well-educated leaders in political offices but there conduct is questionable.”

On Ukambani politics, Kalembe urged warring factions to embrace each other for the good of the community.

“We have realised that times have changed and this has created political imbalance between the young and the old,” he stated.

“Leaders from the old political school of thought should be willing to give young leaders a chance and embrace their ideas,” noted Kalembe in direct hit to rivals of Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua.

He called for political leaders from the Ukambani region to support Mutua saying he is one of the youthful leaders will clear vision and ideas of where he wants his county to go.

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Kalembe Ndile Politics In Focus former Kibwezi MP

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