Nairobi — Trade Cabinet Secretary nominee Salim Mvurya has denied claims that during his 21-month tenure as Cabinet Secretary Blue Economy and Fisheries he was simply a 'desk minister.'

He was responding Pokot South MP David Pkosing who claimed that the perception about the conduct of the minister within the docket was laid back saying he failed to traverse the country to understand issues bedeviling Kenyans in his docket.

"Many Kenyans say or think that you are a desk minister, you only sit at your desk and run your ministry from your desk. Some people don't know Mvurya, if you ask some, let's say people in West Pokot, they think you are a Governor somewhere," Pkosing said.

In his defense, Mvurya took time to list several regions in the country including Rift valley region, Tharaka Nithi County as well as coastal region where he has supervised inception of critical investment surrounding Blue Economy issues.

"I was in West Pokot because of the Sh45 billion linearization programme, and many other places across the country. I may have not come to your constituency but I can give examples here, many of them. I think we also need to acknowledge that our country is very big," he said.

The Trade Cabinet Secretary nominee however pointed out that its not feasible to traverse the 47 counties since his first year in office involved building structures within the docket which included policy framework.

"I have a lot of field information which I can give you here to confirm and I also want to say I will visit other parts Kenya," he noted.