43 PER CENT WANT UHURU TO SACK NGILU

A new survey has returned a harsh verdict on President Uhuru Kenyatta's Cabinet, with a significant number of Kenyans saying that he should fire most of his Secretaries.

The poll indicates that a majority 43 per cent want suspended Lands CS Charity Ngilu sacked - despite having stepped aside in the corruption purge that has consumed four of her colleagues and scores of other high-ranking state officers.

The poll by Ipsos Limited shows that 28 per cent and 15 per cent of Cord and Jubilee supporters respectively want Ngilu sent home.

Ironically, Education CS Jacob Kaimenyi, who was not named in the anti-graft agency List of Shame, is among the high-flying government officials Kenyans want sacked.

The survey indicates that 28 per cent of Kenyans want the former don sent packing.

The poll, conducted through face-to-face interviews between 28 March and April 7 had a sample size of 1,964 respondents and was commissioned by the Star.

Kaimenyi's ministry of Education has failed to deliver the Sh24 billion Standard One laptop project, which is one of the Jubilee's flagship manifesto pledges.

The ministry’s ban on school and student rankings attracted a huge backlash together with the sustained public outcry over Form One selection. These too are likely pointers to Kaimenyi's woes.

The Ipsos poll also indicate that 20 per cent and 15 per cent of Kenyans respectively wants suspended Labour CS Kambi Kazungu and his Agriculture counterpart Felix Koskei sacked.

Interestingly, the majority of Kenyans who want Koskei sacked are Jubilee supporters.

There has been a clamour for better maize prices in the Rift Valley, Kenya’s food basket and bedrock of Jubilee support, with some farmers taking to the streets to express their disgust with the ministry.

Kambi stepped aside for allegedly being involved in the multi-billion-shilling corruption deals at the NSSF while Koskei is under investigation for, among other things, secretly allocating permits to some sugar importers without going through open tendering.

And in what could be a pointer to tough times ahead for newly appointed Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery, 12 per cent of Kenyans already want him relieved of the job.

Nkaiserry, who is already on the spot for the Garissa Massacre that claimed 147 lives, was only sworn into office four months ago.

The survey also indicates that 12 per cent and 10 per cent of Kenyans respectively want Transport CS Michael Kamau and his Energy counterpart Davis Chirchir sacked.

Seven per cent of Kenyans wants Defence CS Rachel Omamo sent home, according to the survey.

The poll also shows that 43 per cent of Kenyans want the rest of the CSs simply sacked.

These are Devolution CS Anne Waiguru, Sports CS Hassan Wario, Industrialisation CS Adan Mohamed and Health CS James Macharia.

According to the EACC List of Shame dossier, Chirchir is accused of working to ensure corrupt deals in the energy sector are successfully executed.

“A case in point is where there was an attempt to influence award of a KPC tender costing US$500 million to Sinopec instead of Zakhem. The tender was meant to corruptly yield US$15 million, which was to be shared between Davis Chirchir and Senator Mike Sonko," said the report.

Chirchir is also under probe over the Sh50 million ChickenGate scandal, over which two British nationals have been jailed for bribing Kenyan and other African state officials.

Kamau, who was grilled by anti-graft detectives last week, is accused of inflating the Standard Gauge Railway consultancy fee involving billions of taxpayer shillings through APEC, a consultancy company associated with him.