President Uhuru Kenyatta has claimed he was suprised at the amount of speculation his two week visit at the coast raised.
Spekaing to delegates at the 10th African Confederation of Principals at Pride Inn Hotel, Mombasa, the president affirmed he would have loved to extend his two week stay at the coast county but he had to leave.
“I would have loved to stay longer and listen to a few presentations, but I have to go back to Nairobi. I have been in Mombasa for two weeks and there has been too much speculation on why I am here, so wacha nirudi Nairobi ndio wawache mambo ya speculation (so let me go back to Nairobi so they can stop the),” Uhuru said.
The President was, thereafter, scheduled to launch the construction of a modern steel factory at Samburu-Goa in Kinango constituency though he opted to send Trade CS Peter Munya.
Speculation started after Uhuru retreated to the Coast and held meetings with opposition leader Raila Odinga, the team spearheading the Building Bridges Initiative, Mombasa governor Hassan Joho and select members of the Cabinet.
However, on Monday State House spokesperson Kanze Dena dismissed reports of any looming Cabinet reshuffle. She told reporters she was not aware of any planned changes in the Cabinet.
“The Head of State wants to meet locals at the grassroots and key people involved in the projects, who are the contractors. The visits are not political,” Dena said during the State House briefing in Mombasa.
The President has been operating from Mombasa State House, his Nyali residence in Mombasa and Vipingo in Kilifi county in the last two weeks.
He only left Mombasa twice — on July 28, when he met retired President Daniel Moi in Nakuru and on Sunday when he attended the signing of peace pact between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar in Khartoum, Sudan.
During another impromptu visit in Lamu county to inspect national government projects, he ordered contractors working on roads leading to the Lapsset site to complete them fast.
The President said there is no way the region can have a poor road infrastructure yet it is the home to the mega Lamu port project.
“You can’t have a project of that magnitude like Lapsset and you don’t have good roads to access it.”
“We need these roads to be constructed fast for easy access to the port,” the President said.
He was accompanied by Transport CS James Macharia, Chief of Defence Forces Samson Mwathethe, and other top government officials.
Uhuru also inspected the 135km Lamu-Garsen road, which is being constructed by the H-Young company.
President Kenyatta said he wants the projects completed before the end of August to pave way for new ones to be initiated.
At the principals’ meeting, Uhuru said there is need to prevent school bus accidents, and they should be driven to the nearest secondary schools after 6pm for trips to continue the next day.
He said the Education ministry’s directive, for school activities involving travel to be limited to 6am to 6pm, must be enforced to the letter.