William Ruto moves to quell anti-Sicily Kariuki storm

What you need to know:

  • Mr Ruto waded into the conflict on Thursday, with sources indicating that he had spoken to several MPs angling for the impeachment of Ms Kariuki.

  • Mr Ruto, the sources said, asked the lawmakers to go easy on Ms Kariuki, promising them he is working on a solution for a conflict that threatens the unity of the ruling party.

The Jubilee Party is battling to avert a looming fallout over suspension of Kenyatta National Hospital CEO Lily Koros.

Some Kalenjin MPs allied to Deputy President William Ruto have threatened to impeach Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki for sending Ms Koros home.

TALKS

Deputy President William Ruto on Friday instructed National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale to meet with Ms Kariuki and the MPs who want her pushed out.

While speaking at Parliament Buildings, Mr Duale said he intends to meet the CS before meeting the lawmakers later in the day.

He said Jubilee is determined to have the matter settled internally and not have their "dirty linen washed public".

Mr Ruto waded into the conflict on Thursday, with sources indicating that he had spoken to several MPs angling for the impeachment of Ms Kariuki.

Mr Ruto, the sources said, asked the lawmakers to go easy on Ms Kariuki, promising them he is working on a solution for a conflict that threatens the unity of the ruling party.

At least four MPs, all drawn from the Kalenjin community, said they had talked to the DP over the issue but remained cagey on what exactly was agreed upon.

The MPs are angry at the manner Ms Kariuki is running Afya House and are collecting signatures for a petition to have her impeached.

So far more than 150 MPs from across the political divide have signed the petition.

The plan to have Jubilee MPs who have signed a petition seeking the removal from office of Health CS Sicily Kariuki over the sacking of Kenyatta National Hospital CEO Ms Lily Koros withdraw their signatures, has kicked off.

This comes as leader of majority in the National Assembly Mr Aden Duale confirmed to the Nation that Deputy President William Ruto has instructed him to find a way of having the matter that has threatened President Kenyatta’s big four agenda, solved amicably.

Mr Duale said that as part of finding a solution to the issue, he will meet the CS today and the MPs separately.

“The most important thing is to have those who have signed the petition withdraw their signatures so that we can solve the issue as a united jubilee house,” Mr Duale said.

“As a Jubilee family, we will have this matter settled internally because it has never been our style to wash our dirty linen in public,” he said.

On March 2, Health Cabinet Secretary Ms Sicily Kariuki sent the KNH CEO Ms Lily Koros CEO on compulsory leave pending investigations after a mistaken surgical operation of a patient.

The mix-up in the patient surgery was the latest of the many blunders at the largest referral hospital in East and Central Africa. The others include the highly publicized child theft syndicate and the raping of patient allegations

However, the decision did not go down well with politicians from Rift Valley accusing the CS of targeting one of their own.

As the controversy continued, at least 130 MPs largely from the Rift Valley signed a petition to have Ms Kariuki removed from office for firing the Ms Koros without being accorded the right to be heard.

But today Mr Duale said that he will prevail upon the MPs who had signed the petition to withdraw their signatures.

“Our main preoccupation is to have jubilee deliver on the big four agenda that the president has outlined to the country. But this cannot go on well if we start fighting within ourselves,” Mr Duale said.

The Health ministry is one of the main players in the president’s big four agenda- provision of affordable health care to Kenyans.

This will see an increase in the number of people with health coverage from the current 16.5 million to 25.7 million by the end of this year.

There is also the need to amend the National Hospital Insurance Fund Act to align it to the universal health coverage.

The other three, which intends to define the president’s legacy after serving his second and last term, include manufacturing that he intends to raise share of sector from nine to 15 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2022, food security and affordable housing.