Uhuru reads the Riot Act on people he accuses of creating ‘a parallel centre
of power’

Updated Saturday, September 28th 2013 at 21:47 GMT +3

Although his official title is Secretary to the Cabinet, Francis
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kimemia
has been performing duties of the powerful office of the Head of Public
Service.

But he won’t perform that role any more. That job has been assigned to
former Treasury PS Joseph
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kinyua&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kinyua.

And  <http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH>
Kimemia’s duties have been reduced to writing invitation letters to Cabinet
secretaries to attend Cabinet meetings, taking minutes during the meetings
and disseminating the same to the secretaries. In a sense, the
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Westgate&searchbutton=SEARCH>
Westgate attack has cost the former Head of Civil Service and Secretary to
the Cabinet his job.

At a Cabinet meeting in State House, Nairobi on Thursday, President Uhuru
Kenyatta is said to have read the Riot Act on people he accused of creating
a “parallel centre of power” within the government.

The President is said to have seethed with rage after it emerged that some
senior officials in Harambee House, the former Office of the President, were
issuing unauthorised instructions over the
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Westgate&searchbutton=SEARCH>
Westgate Mall attack.

And immediately after making his point, the President introduced Joseph
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kinyua&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kinyua
to replace former powerful PS in the Office of the President Mr
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH>
Kimemia.

 <http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH>
Kimemia was also at the Thursday meeting in his capacity as Secretary to the
Cabinet.It also emerged that
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kimemia
chaired the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC) meeting where the
National Intelligence Service (NIS) says it provided information on the
impending attack at the mall. “He is secretary to the Cabinet and only God
knows in what capacity he was chairing that meeting,” said a close Uhuru
ally at Harambee House.

Furious Uhuru

A Cabinet secretary told The Standard on Sunday that Uhuru was furious when
he addressed the Thursday Cabinet meeting.

“Some of you think there are two centres of power. I am the President and
there is also the Deputy President. There is no other centre of power,”
Uhuru is said to have warned at the State House meeting. It was after he
made the tough remarks that Uhuru introduced the appointment of
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kinyua&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kinyua
as the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service.

 <http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kinyua&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kinyua
became the centre of attention after the meeting with all Cabinet
secretaries lining up to greet and congratulate him. That effectively made
him the third in command within government after Deputy President William
Ruto and the second in command at State House after the President. Sources
in the Cabinet informed The Standard on Sunday that the changes were made
following a series of communication goofs where
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kimemia
was implicated.

Concern was raised when Interior Permanent Secretary Mutea Iringo called a
Press conference at Harambee House when his boss Cabinet Secretary Joseph
ole Lenku was addressing another one at Peponi Road in Westlands.

“It is not possible Iringo could have called that Press conference without
the knowledge of
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kimemia
who is in charge of affairs at Harambee House,” said our source.

The Cabinet secretary was with the military generals and top police officers
including Inspector General David Kimaiyo, and CID boss Ndegwa Muhoro when
he was issuing the Press statement on Sunday evening.

The team had opened an operation camp near the site of the attack but
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kimemia
and Iringo were conspicuously absent.

“The president noticed that because the whole world could see there was
somebody who was trying to create another centre of power,” said an official
from the Executive Office of The President.

The management of the crisis became more complicated when the Interior
ministry started tweeting and releasing conflicting information. At the same
time, the police service was releasing different information from what was
coming out of Harambee House.

The social media went viral on the conflicting information, which top
government officials blamed on
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH>
Kimemia. According to our source,
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kimemia
had not realised that Harambee House was no longer the Office the President.

“The last time Uhuru was at Harambee House was when he was President-elect
and has since worked from his office at State House,” our source explained.

It appears Uhuru was surprised to learn that
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kimemia
was the head of NSAC and was getting all security briefs, but some of the
information was not reaching him and other agencies.

“The information on the
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Westgate&searchbutton=SEARCH>
Westgate attack was given but it did not go anywhere. The NIS had informed
them what vehicles the Al-Shabaab would use and at what time they would
attack. Kimaiyo was also said to have been there and that is why NIS keeps
saying they gave information to top officials at OP and police,” said our
source.

State House officials say
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kimemia
had taken too long to understand that he was secretary to the Cabinet, whose
job is to write letters of invitation, take minutes and circulate them.

 <http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH>
Kimemia’s comment

“ <http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH>
Kimemia surprisingly is still chair of NSAC just like he was when he was
head of public service when he is only supposed to be secretary to the
Cabinet,” said another senior officer at the ministry of Interior.

When The Standard on Sunday contacted
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kimemia
to comment on the unfolding events, he sent an SMS saying: “No comment. I
know what I am supposed to do.”

The Standard on Sunday is in possession of letters
<http://standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Kimemia&searchbutton=SEARCH> Kimemia
wrote to Cabinet secretaries while designating himself as Permanent
Secretary, to the Cabinet and Head of Public service.

In the letter dated 24th June, Reference number OP.CAB.9/1, the “Head of
Public Service” an office that was scrapped with the beginning of Uhuru’s
term, he instructed all Cabinet secretaries not to gazette any new
appointments of chairpersons or chief executive officers in the government
parastatals unless in concurrence with the Office of the President.

 

           Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
           Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"

 

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