Kipchumba Murkomen, Cabinet Secretary for Roads, Transport, and Public Works, has ruffled feathers by claiming Rwanda is an autocracy in which what the president says is the law.
Murkomen, who has recently been in the spotlight due to a power outage at Kenya’s busiest airport, the JKIA, was speaking during an interview on Citizen TV on Monday.
The CS, speaking against the backdrop of a campaign to educate motorists about road safety during the holiday season, stated that Kenya is a democracy where the rule of law reigns supreme.
He stated that processes in Kenya can take time because they must go through several steps, including public participation, parliament, and, on occasion, the court.
Murkomen compared Kenya and Rwanda, claiming that no fair comparison could be made because Rwanda is “even smaller than Kajiado county.”
“Rwanda is not like Kenya. Rwanda is an autocracy and there whatever the President says is the law,” CS Murkomen said.
“For every decision you make in this country you must go through a proposal then Parliament then public participation.”
His words sparked outrage online, with Lawyer Ahmednasir demanding that the government organise workshops for officials to educate them on basic tenets of international relations.
According to the lawyer, the CS made disparaging remarks about President Kagame without provocation, and his words were likely to incite resentment between Kenya and Rwanda.
“CS Murkomen can’t attack a sovereign friendly state without provocation and disparage President Paul Kagame just like that. This is embarrassing,”Ahmednasir said on social platform X.
“CSs must be taken through a crash course, teaching them the responsibilities that come with their new constitutional offices! Very soon, Kenya will be a pariah state in the hood!”
Donald Kipkorir, another learned friend, chimed in, criticising the CS for his controversial remarks on national television.
“Rwanda maybe small, so is Singapore, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg & Liechtenstein,” Kipkorir said on X.
“By the way, the only countries in Africa whose growth rate is over 6% p.a. are Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia & Rwanda.”
Murkomen’s remarks, according to Gabriel Oguda, were ironic given that the majority of Kenyan MPs were in Rwanda for the ongoing EAC games.
“Murkomen has said Rwanda is an autocracy while the bulk of Kenyan MPs are in Kigali for the EAC games,” he said.
“Bwana tomorrow morning, MPs will be looking for matatus to rush to the Ugandan border before Kagame coughs, and we will be there no matter what.”
Murkomen’s remarks come just a day after President Ruto declared Kenya’s diplomatic relations with its neighbours to be “perfect.”
He was responding to claims that the absence of EAC Heads of State, such as Rwanda’s Kagame, Tanzania’s Suluhu, and Uganda’s Museveni, was evidence of deteriorating diplomatic relations.
According to Ruto, there was no requirement that Heads of State from neighbouring countries attend Kenya’s national days, and those that came did so on account of being East Africans.
