‘Leave me alone,’ Uhuru tells off MPs Moses Kuria, Kimani Ngunjiri

President Uhuru Kenyatta has told off a section of Jubilee leaders who have been critical of his administration’s development record in his home turf of Central Kenya.

Speaking in Mombasa on Monday, President Kenyatta condemned politicians accusing him of neglecting the Mt. Kenya region despite the area overwhelmingly voting for him in the last elections.

The Head of State asserted that he would not be swayed by the criticism, asking the leaders to leave him alone as he is focused on ensuring that every part of the country benefits from the government’s development agenda.

“I am not a person who is easily scared… Those going around playing petty politics I want to tell them this. We will not launch development projects based on which region a leader comes from. We want all 45 million Kenyans to benefit, we want all corners of this country to grow,” said Kenyatta during the commissioning of the Mama Ngina waterfront regeneration project.

“We want a country where every single citizen is entitled to development regardless of where the leader comes from. Kwa hivyo hao washenzi waachane na mimi…(Let those stupid people leave me alone).”

He added: “We want a country where every Kenyan feels they are part of this nation.”

The president’s remarks come in the wake of sentiments made by Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria, who criticized President Kenyatta for allegedly launching development projects in other parts of the country but neglecting his own home turf.

“Mimi nataka kusema hivi, tukifungua mwaka wa 2019 nyinyi mfikirie sana. Sisi mambo yetu ni kupiga kura, baada ya kupiga kura maendeleo tunapatiana kwingine,” said the outspoken legislator in a clip dated December 31, 2018.

(This is what I want to say, as we usher in 2019 we must think very seriously. Our job is to vote, and then afterwards development goes to other areas.)

Kuria has since retracted the statement, his remarks were taken out of context, further assuring that his relationship with the President is still solid.

“I refuse to be sidetracked by those people… I have never disrespected the Head of State. If in any case any word I uttered could have been misconstrued in a bad way, I offer my profuse apologies to the Head of State and to anyone who would want to misconstrue… because that was not my intention,” said Kuria in a press address last Friday.

Kuria’s apology also came a few hours after elders from his constituency, in a presser at Kimunyu Cutural Centre, dismissed his utterances and described them as “unfortunate, reckless, irresponsible and displayed total lack of respect for the Head of State.”

On Sunday, January 6, 2019 Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri asked President Kenyatta to resign and allow Kenyans to elect a new leader if he is tired of leading the country.

Addressing journalists in Nakuru, Ngunjiri said President Kenyatta had neglected “his people,” adding that the Kikuyu community continue to suffer under the Jubilee administration.

“If Uhuru is tired, let him call for elections for the presidential seat. Our people are crying all over, they have no lives. There is no government that has pushed the Kikuyu community to a tough corner, politically and economically, than this (Jubilee) government,” said Ngunjiri.