A week before his sacking, Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid
Echesa confided in a close friend that he was staring at an imminent
transfer from the docket.
And on
Wednesday, an embattled Echesa opened up to a journalist about his fears
for his job, saying even if he was dismissed, he would forever remain
grateful to the Jubilee administration for having accorded him the
honour of serving in the Cabinet.
PHONES OFF
“I
have achieved a dream I never thought of and I will forever remain
thankful to God. The title will remain because people will be referring
to me as a former Cabinet secretary,” Mr Echesa said.
His fears were confirmed Friday when President Uhuru Kenyatta sacked him, just one year after his appointment to the Cabinet.
Going
by behind-the-scenes happenings at the Cabinet level and outside, Mr
Echesa knew his boss was not happy with his conduct at all.
He is even said to have sought Deputy
President William Ruto’s intervention in a last-ditch effort to salvage
his job. It was too late, it turned out.
It
is not clear whether the DP interceded for him but given Friday’s
announcement, it would appear such intervention was too little too late.
Mr Echesa’s phones were switched off for the better part of Friday.
The
first sign that his continued stay in government was no longer tenable
was when President Kenyatta publicly took him on at the mausoleum of the
late opposition leader Jaramogi Oginga Odinga in Bondo last year. The
President made it clear that he was unhappy with the condition of the
tomb whose maintenance falls under the department of Culture, in Mr
Echesa’s Sports docket.
PUBLIC SPAT
Eyewitnesses said Mr Raila Odinga, who also attended the event, had to intervene to save Mr Echesa from the President’s wrath.
Mr
Echesa became the first minister to be outright sacked by the
President. In the past, Mr Kenyatta has relieved ministers of their
duties by asking them to “step aside” or re-deploying them.
With
the move, Mr Kenyatta appeared to have partially heeded calls to effect
changes in his Cabinet by many who are demanding to see heads roll in
the face of runway corruption in high places.
It was not immediately clear whether the axing of Mr Echesa had anything to do with the war on graft.
His
sacking immediately elicited condemnation from a section of politicians
from Western Kenya, led by Majority Whip in the National Assembly Ben
Washiali, who said Mr Kenyatta had shown that their support to him no
longer mattered.
“It was tough
selling the Jubilee agenda in Western but Mr Echesa was among the people
who went out of their way to create inroads for Mr Kenyatta to access
the region. We are not happy with this decision. Mr Kenyatta has shown
that he doesn’t value us,” the Jubilee MP said.
The CS has had endless gaffes, the most notable one being his public spat with Mr Odinga.
POLITICAL RALLIES
It
would appear Mr Echesa had failed to read the signs of the time after
his boss embraced the former Prime Minister following the March 9
political truce at Harambee House.
On
that occasion, he dared Mr Odinga to go ahead and sack him if he
thought he was the appointing authority. While the truth is that Mr
Odinga has no such powers, the former CS may, however, may want to
reflect back to see where the rains may have started beating him.
“We
have one government led by Uhuru and William Ruto and those are the
only people I will pledge my priority to and not to you, Raila Odinga. I
want to dare you Raila, if you are the appointing authority, come and
sack me,” he said.
And recently when
Mr Kenyatta warned his Cabinet members to concentrate on working and
stop politicking, the CS was believed to be one of the targets.
"During
today's Cabinet meeting I reminded our Cabinet secretaries that there
are many young Kenyans who are willing and ready to work if they felt
they are not up to task. Those who have chosen to keep politicking
instead of serving the people should be ready to give way," President
Kenyatta said on January 31.
Mr Echesa was known to address political rallies in western Kenya.
At
one point Mr Echesa, a staunch supporter of Mr Ruto’s 2022 presidential
bid, asked ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi to forget about 2022
presidential ambitions as he could not raise Sh200 billion to finance a
campaign.
MONEY LAUNDERING
Mr
Echesa has been embroiled in a number of violent exchanges in western
Kenya in the past, most notable being a face-off with Kakamega Senator
Cleophas Malala where scores were injured and vehicles damaged in
Mayoni.
Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has also come face-to-face with Mr Echesa’s confrontational brand of politics.
At
one point last year, he accused Mr Oparanya of failing to deal with a
Kisumu-based miller who had set up a weighbridge at Shikunga market in
Butere constituency.
Against swirling
claims that he may have been involved in some inappropriate conduct and
that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations was treating him as a
person of interest in an ongoing investigation, the former firebrand ODM
youth leader warned that he would seek legal redress.
“I will sue anyone who accuses me of money laundering,” he said.
Another embarrassing moment for the CS came when eight Pakistani club dancers were arrested for being in the country illegally.
The
defence lawyer Evans Ondieki told Senior Principal Magistrate Kennedy
Cheruiyot that the girls, who were arrested at Balle Balle Club in
Parklands, Nairobi, were in the country legally with full permission of
CS Echesa.
NUDE PHOTOS
In
their supremacy fights with Senator Malala, Mr Echesa was accused of
manufacturing nude photos allegedly of the lawmaker which were
circulated online.
Last October,
police at the KICC station summoned Mr Echesa after three journalists
who had been arrested in connection with the matter linked him to the
saga.
“KICC police station have a
reason to believe you Hon Rashid Echesa have information that may assist
in investigation of alleged offence of Cyber Crime Act of 2018,” read
the summons.
In August last year, Mr Echesa was caught up in a near-fistfight with Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi at Kisumu Airport.
The
MP was reported to have started the argument with Mr Echesa over the
CS's comments linking Mr Odinga to an alleged plot to kick him out of
the Cabinet.
After the incident, some of his colleagues complained that he was an embarrassment to the Cabinet.
At the ministry level, reports abound that he had poor working relationship with juniors.
Sports PS Kirimi Kaberia was at some point forced to fight back claims that he had fallen out with the minister.
“I
enjoy the best relationship with my CS because we are both tasked and
determined to improve the state of sports in the country,” he said.
EDUCATION
For the one year he served in the Cabinet, Mr Echesa and controversy have been almost synonymous.
During
his vetting, some MPs felt he was not the right man for the job. His
humble education background was also subject of heated debate.
Mr
Echesa has also been embroiled in turf wars with his ICT counterpart
Joe Mucheru over the Kenya Film Classification Board, with the former at
one point ignoring a presidential directive that the agency fell under
the ICT docket and going ahead to appoint its board members.
Meanwhile,
for ICT principal secretary Fatuma Hirsi, Friday’s sacking was the
second time she was being shown the door in less than a year. In June
last year, the Head of State sacked her as PS for Tourism.
In a letter dated May 30, 2018, Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua informed her that her contract was not renewed.
"Your
employment contract has been terminated forthwith," Kinyua told her.
“You will be paid your salary up to June 30, which will be your last
working day."
However, a month later when the President effected a mini-reshuffle in the Cabinet, he appointed her the PS for Broadcasting.
Prior to her appointment as PS for Tourism in 2015, Ms Hirsi worked in the United Nation’s Universal Postal Agency.
SOURCE DAILY NATION
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