Mutua says Senator Kangata should be rewarded over letter to President Kenyatta on BBI

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua says Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata deserves honour and praise for the bold letter he authored to President Uhuru Kenyatta declaring that the BBI is unpopular in the Head of State’s native Central Kenya region.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mutua said Kang’ata should not be vilified for airing his views, adding that the Senator’s letter rescues the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) by vocalizing the underlying concerns.

Also Read: Irungu Kang’ata warns President Kenyatta of BBI unpopularity in Mt. Kenya

The Governor, who is also the Maendeleo Chap Chap party leader and one of the BBI proponents, says the letter “may be the best thing to happen to the BBI.”

“Senator Irungu Kangata’s letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta on his perspective of the support of BBI in Mt. Kenya region, may be the best thing to happen to the Building Bridges Initiative. What the courageous Senate Majority Chief Whip has done is vocalized the whispers that have been going on around due to the propaganda by anti-BBI opposers,” said Mutua.

“By speaking about the challenges as he sees them, he has issued a call to arms which has now made the BBI issue and it’s success, especially in Mt. Kenya area, an issue of debate and hopefully, action.”

In his view, the Maendeleo Chap Chap party leader says Kang’ata’s letter draws attention to a number of issues including whether there is a communication breakdown in the President’s political organization.

“The letter also raises a few questions. For example, based on my previous experience working closely for President Kibaki, I am asking myself, is there a communication breakdown in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s political organization? Who are the gatekeepers to the President?

I am also wondering, may this be a master political game initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta to give him a good reason to rejig a few things? Well, it is a technique I have seen used effectively. Time will tell,” stated Mutua.

The Machakos Governor concluded by saying: “…The good Senator Kangata’s phone is off. If anyone gets in touch with him, please tell him I want to buy him a drink. He has made me proud.”

In the letter, Kang’ata said only two in ten people in Central Kenya support the BBI, a finding he said is based on his own personal survey over the Christmas holiday

He stated that only two out of 10 respondents supported the BBI, two others were indifferent while six opposed it; out of the six, majority were women and youth, men above 50 were listed as among the bulk of few supporters.

While admitting that his survey was not scientific, Kang’ata called for a more structured survey with properly identified respondents, scientific sampling procedures, employment of good research tools and questionnaires, further imploring the President to use his other sources of information to corroborate or counter his conclusion.

The Senate Majority Whip, in the letter, averred that though most of his respondents were from Murang’a County, the sample size was big enough for him to make a logical inference.

“Your Excellency, I concede I may be wrong. In fact, I wish I was wrong and that my views are a mere pessimistic view of things. However, if I am right and we do not take urgent remedial measures, I will pin myself permanently in the pillar of the shame of spectacular defeat,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Kang’ata has since apologised over the manner in which the letter went public, saying it was leaked by a third party.

Senator Kang’ata, however, maintains that the issues in the letter are substantive, adding that he hopes they will be remedied.

“Kindly though the letter dated 30th December is authentic, I didn’t give it to the media. Someone else who had been copied did. I apologise for that. With the benefit of hindsight. I should have copied no one else. Trust substantive issues raised in the letter will be remedied,” said the Senate Majority Whip on Monday.