Rashid Echesa: Uhuru must say why he fired me

Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa on Saturday repeated his demand that President Uhuru Kenyatta explains why he dismissed him from the Cabinet a week ago.

Mr Echesa maintained that he has never engaged in corruption during his year-long stint and insisted that Kenyans have a right to know why Mr Kenyatta fired him.

“If I have stolen anything belonging to any person, let the President tell Kenyans so that I am not asked this question every now and then,” the former minister said when he attended a funeral at his Shibale backyard in Kakamega County.

Mr Echesa told the mourners that the law is clear on those who steal public resources.

MONEY LAUNDERING

He claimed that he was fired because he is not from the “political dynasties”, a reference to President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.

President Kenyatta’s father, Jomo, was Kenya’s founding president while Mr Odinga’s father, Jaramogi, was the first Vice President after independence.

Mr Echesa claimed that failure to be told what wrongs he committed may lead him to repeat the same mistakes in future in the event he lands another job in government.

And as if to distance himself from claims that he was linked to fake money which was found in Ruiru, Kiambu County, around the time he was dismissed, Mr Echesa dared Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji to arrest and prosecute him, arguing that the two institutions have the means of getting to the bottom of the matter.

“Failing to clear the air means that I was targeted as a sacrificial lamb,” he said, suggesting that he had been fired for political reasons because he has been identified with the Deputy President William Ruto wing of government.

“Get Dr Ruto out of my sacking. It is him who approached me to get out of ODM and join Jubilee. I have a lot of respect for him,” he added.

HANDSHAKE

He railed at Mr Odinga, accusing him of being an ungrateful visitor who is wreaking Jubilee Party and pushing for the ejection of real Jubilee members.

He warned Mr Odinga to prepare for a tough battle, saying that he is still in government and will fight at all costs to maintain his stake.

“Mr Odinga should be prepared because we are not going to cede an inch of our position in government. I am still in government because I contested the 2017 Mumias West Parliamentary seat on Jubilee Party ticket and Jubilee formed the government,” he told mourners.

He further poured cold on the handshake, saying it has transformed President Kenyatta into a bitter person who is full of anger and is used to addressing the country through insults.

CORRUPTION

He asked Kenyans to pray for the President and the government from what he described as evil spirits brought about by the handshake.

At the same time, former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale asked the MPs to impeach the President over the loss of billions of shillings in government through corruption.

He insisted that corruption has been an ingrained as part of the Jubilee government since 2013, and wondered where the renewed vigour to fight the vice has come from.