Ministry of Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi has entered the presidential race to succeed Uhuru Kenyatta in 2022. Matiangi announced the news from his hometown in Kisii town yesterday saying that he has been tipped to run for the presidency in the upcoming presidential election. He said he is ready to take the challenge should Kenyans decide to support his presidential ambitions.
The cabinet secretary said each worker in any workplace would like to be promoted one day and that as the top performer in Kenya’s civil service, he will not shy away from vying for the top office in the land.
Mr. Matiangi has been under pressure from his colleagues to run for the presidency including Ministry of Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe’s speech in Kisii a couple of weeks ago. In that speech, Mr. Kagwe encourage the Kisii community to see the signs that Mr. Matiangi was destined to be the leader of the country one day and that the community should support him for the post.
On Tuesday, Matiangi encouraged his community to unite and put their differences aside. “I am pleading with you brothers and sisters to put our political differences aside and be united as a community, if we have to develop,” he stated.
The cabinet secretary was speaking when he met leaders from the Kisii and Nyamira counties. Matiangi urged the MCAs in the region to prepare for the upcoming National Leadership Consultative Forum planned for October 2020.
He took a swipe at political leaders allied to the deputy president William Ruto by accusing them of misleading the community.
Mr. Matiangi has been at loggerheads with the deputy president before. About a fortnight ago, he called for the resignation of the deputy president when he criticized the government for arresting Samburu, Bomet and Kakamega senators a few hours before they were slated to debate on the revenue sharing formula.
Matiangi told William Ruto to resign and join the opposition if he was unsatisfied with the ruling Jubilee government.
But a few hours after uttering this, he came back to the press and retracted his comments and then accused NTV of twisting his words. He threatened to sure Nation Media Group for libel and slander regarding their “inaccurate” story.
