After months of loud silence even as a purge on major parliamentary committees was carried out, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro has come out to state his stand in what ended up an underwhelming show.
Despite being the subject of discussion in Parliament last week over what was described as skewed allocation in favor of his constituency, Nyoro declined to answer back his colleagues and chose to keep it modest.
In the heat of political moments that happened last year, Nyoro kept off the limelight, since the contentious Finance Bill 2024, even as he revealed that he has not had a conversation with President William Ruto, politically or otherwise, since October last year.
He said that in politics, it is important to draw the line and know what to engage in.
“I cannot answer evil with evil or insult with insult. I get messages every day on what I should do and how but it is not the appropriate time today (Tuesday) to talk about those other things. I know there are expectations of people on what we should say when and how,” he said, in a press conference held in his office at KICC.
“If you allow me today, I called you to this particular office because you have come here before during budget making process and that is the agenda… so that the things we have been reading and seeing can be clarified and give my voice on it,” he added.
The Kiharu MP, who was until last week the chairperson of the powerful Budget and Appropriations Committee also declined to speak about his political future, saying time for that will come.
In the build up to General Election and even after the Kenya Kwanza coalition ascended to power, Nyoro was a close ally of President Ruto, which also saw him get the budget committee’s chairperson position.
“I have not had any conversation directly or over the phone, with any leader of our coalition with regards to the position I held. I respect all leaders, including the President and his former Deputy Rigathi Gachagua, and could have things I need to talk about but it is not within my role to talk about those thing,” he said.
And added: “For clarity, the last discussion I had with the President, political or otherwise was before October last year and I would not want to discuss further any leader… I just stopped serving my position just a week ago.”
Asked whether he felt betrayed by the ouster, Nyoro said it is inherently human to have disappointments in some situations of life.
“I am a human being and when you see us politicians, we are also people and it is inherently human to have disappointments. I have enjoyed a phase of quietness
Nyoro has kept a low profile politically and even when the petition against Gachagua was brought in Parliament, he never participated in the impeachment process.
A section of politicians accused him of using his position to allocate constituency more funds than others, even as they questioned how he has been able to achieve so much with the meagre allocations through the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF).
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He responded to his critics who had stated they did not understand how his constituency has become a center of benchmarking.
He also told off those implying that his position as chairperson of budget committee facilitated his development projects in Kiharu saying that most of what has been achieved was done in his first term in office and he is now serving his second.
“I do not host people to blow my own trumpet, it is about deliverables…in fact we do call it benchmarking, it is a peer-to-peer learning. We have been doing these things to learn and share experiences on issues like management of public resources and with that, it can become better for all constituencies,” he explained.
“Politics is always up and down, mutually exclusive and we push for same positions. It is always a chase; you have to define yourself as a leader on what you want to engage. We see development in your own eyes. We have to talk as leaders and I will not be provoked to respond to evil with evil or insult with insult, time answers many things,” he said.
Nyoro said that he was grateful of the chance that he had of serving as the chairperson of the budget committee, stating that it was a highly engaging and busy position that helped him understand many things that he barely knew before.
“It made me know the workings of government in terms of its levels, its arms, departments and agencies and therefore, as much as it was work, it was also a profound learning experience that I am truly grateful for,” he said.
Nyoro continued: “I am thankful for the fact that I had trained as an economist many years back in Kenyatta University and when I got the chance to serve as the Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, I had the first-hand learning of how macroeconomic parameters relate with each other.”
He said his position pushed him to upgrading his education after he found that the country has many challenges, the overarching one being its economic in nature and is now pursuing two Master’s degrees concurrently, Masters of Economics in Public Policy at Kenyatta University and Masters of Arts in Economics at University of Nairobi.
Nyoro said he was re-elected for a second term even without printing a single poster, but lauded his constituents for giving him a second chance, which gave him the opportunity to serve in the budget committee.
