Nairobi — Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has come under fire for expressing approval for President Paul Kagame's "autocratic" style of leadership in Rwanda as efficient.
Speaking Monday night during a media interview Murkomen characterized Rwanda's system as a success citing efficient transport system, attributing it to well-formulated policies.
"Rwanda is not like Kenya. We must live with certain expectations as a country that comes with democracy. Rwanda is autocracy and there whatever the president says is the law," Murkomen said.
"Every decision you make in this country (Kenya), you must go through first the proposal, then parliament then public participation then after you go all through the process you go through the court and that is our country," he said.
Murkomen highlighted disparities in legal procedures between the two countries, noting that Kenya employs diverse strategies, including technological advancements, to combat corruption and other criminal activities.
He observed that a Minister, a police officer and President "does not have a silver bullet" in terms of enforcement in Kenya, suggesting Kenya's decentralized system proving for checks and balances was prone to abuse.
"If we were a military state, you know some countries execute people for even a small offence. We cannot do this in our country, we are different, and we must negotiate through the legal processes," he added.
His remarks attracted criticism from a section of Kenyans with city lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi saying the constituted a diplomatic misstep.
"CS Kipchumba Murkomen can't attack a sovereign friendly state without provocation and disparage President Paul Kagame just like that. This is embarrassing," Abdullahi said.
Rwanda unique
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing'oei dismissed Abdullahi's reading of the situation.
"Each country within the EAC has a unique democratic praxis suited to their contexts. We celebrate this diversity of expressions and institutional arrangements," he said.
"Rwanda is a key brotherly Nation and the Head of State of Rwanda, H.E. Paul Kagame, is an iconic leader," Sing'oei asserted terming his leadership as bold.
In response to the criticism generated by his comments, Murkomen clarified that he intended to express admiration for Rwanda's leadership style.
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"It is not just Rwanda; countries like UAE, Morocco, Saudi Arabia among others have a style of leadership that has delivered great success to their people because their leaders have the power to make firm decisions," Murkomen said.
"Our style of leadership has many positives but it's too bureaucratic and takes years to make a very simple decision which ends up being very costly for our people."
He instead urged Abdullahi to focus on streamlining Kenya's legal processes, arguing that bureaucratic delays impede the country's development projects.
"Instead of you crying about Rwanda please cry for your country. Help us deal with for example court orders that award a contractor Sh10 billion for claims and interests for a contract worth Sh2 billion or a road that stalls for 10 years because a competing bidder is still waiting a decision of the court," he stated.
Murkomen added: "Cry not for Rwanda, they are doing well. Cry for your country."
