Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has weighed in on the ‘Deep State,’ which pundits believe is a network of powerful but shadowy figures within the government who call the shots, claiming its existence is not far-fetched.
Governor Mutua, who was speaking on Citizen TV’s Day Break, shared his experience as the Kenya government spokesman under Kenya’s third president, Mwai Kibaki.
According to Mutua, during Kibaki’s presidency, there was widespread talk of a “kitchen cabinet,” now known as the deep state today.
“When I served under Mwai Kibaki- I’m writing this in my book- , I was privileged position to see how governments run, I used to see the frustrations of Ambassador Muthaura,” Governor Mutua said.
“At that time, we did not talk about the deep state, we talked about the kitchen cabinet, apparently there was kitchen cabinet… basically made up of government officials who ran the show,”
The deep state, sometimes known as the kitchen cabinet, is formed when there is no formal government structure, according to Governor Mutua.
“It is when you have these informal structures that you have a problem, the reason Kibaki and Muthaura succeeded is because they did not let any other view into the government, it was basically a government led from the front” Mutua said.
The Machakos county boss said that Kibaki was however able to maneuver the tricky path because he led from the from and was clear on where he wanted to go.
On the existence of a deep state in the current regime, Mutua echoed the sentiments by governor Francis Kimemia- who having served as Head of Public Service and Permanent Secretary for Provincial Administration and Internal Secretary in the retired president Mwai Kibaki government-appeared to have lent credence to the deep state mystery.
“I agree with Kimemia that within government there are people and institutions with instruments of power who can influence, they can influence results, they can control events.. that has been there for a long time,” Governor Mutua claimed…
While explaining why the deep state may exist under the current government set-up, Mutua questioned whether President Kenyatta, like his predecessor, was leading from the front.
“Has Uhuru been leading from the front? Has he really told his people that he want this done, and this done, if not, you get all these people who come and make themselves the deep state,” Governor Mutua said on Thursday.
At the same time, Mutua also questioned the existence of the deep state, saying the if it were indeed there, Jubilee would not have lost in elections.
“If the deep state is there, and they are that powerful and can rig elections, why did Jubilee then lose the recent elections… in Kiambaa?” Mutua posed. “It there or is just manufactured in peoples mind to give it power and credence that it does not have,”
The latest comes just days after Governor Kimemia claimed that a presidential candidate backed by the ‘Deep State’ more often than not always wins the elections.
“If you have two candidates at the rate of 50-50, and the Deep State backs one, you can be sure that one will win. The candidate must be credible and electable, that becomes very important if the Deep State are to support a candidate,” he said.
