Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has criticized President William Ruto’s administration, accusing it of undoing gains made under his government.
Speaking during the Jubilee Party National Delegates Conference on Friday, September 26, Uhuru pointed to the scrapping of the Linda Mama program, which offered free maternal healthcare.
He argued that the program was replaced with untested schemes that has left many Kenyans suffering.
“Today, many of the gains we had in the past have been eroded, Linda Mama and others have been replaced by new, untried and untested schemes. And while we wait for these experiments to work, Kenyans suffer and our progress is retarded,” he said.
Uhuru warned that the country was sliding backward by dwelling on politics and rhetoric instead of focusing on development.
He argued that what were once dismissed as myths during the campaigns have now become the harsh reality for ordinary Kenyans.
“As we continue to dwell in rhetoric rather than in progress, we repeat the mistakes of the past. Indeed, today, some of the truths we spoke of yesterday have become the reality check of today, while some of the myths and falsehoods have become the nightmare that many are living,” he added.
Uhuru also revisited the 2022 General Election, saying his warnings about leadership and governance were ignored in favor of divisive narratives.
“In the last General Election, I endeavored to pass this message. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears and was lost in the noise of insults, character assassinations, myths and stories of dynasties and hustlers, and so on,” he further said.
On matters of national security, Uhuru defended his record, highlighting investments made to strengthen the country’s security apparatus.
However, he cautioned that the system should never be turned against the people it was designed to protect.
“In security, despite initial challenges, we invested heavily in infrastructure. We restored our security organs and strengthened the inter-agency approach, ensuring they were better equipped to handle both domestic and external threats.
“The system we built, however, was never meant to be used against our own citizens, nor should it have been a source of fear or conflict with them. It was meant to protect the citizens, not harm them,” he remarked.
Uhuru’s remarks sparked reactions from leaders, including Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei who accused the former President of leaving the country in a mess.
“As a former member of Jubilee Party, I am disappointed by remarks by party leader Uhuru Kenyatta, by pontificating himself, yet he left a mess of a country that we are trying to fix.
“He left a wanton of corruption, debt crisis of over Ksh9 trillion, inequitable development in the country, dysfunctional CBC, and uncontrollable food insecurity,” he claimed.
Linda Mama was a government-funded maternity programme in Kenya, run under the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
It was introduced in 2016 with the aim of improving maternal and child health by offering free maternity services to all pregnant women.
The programme sought to eliminate financial barriers that prevented expectant mothers from accessing proper healthcare and to reduce maternal and child mortality rates across the country.
Through Linda Mama, registered women were able to access a full package of services that covered the entire maternity journey.
These included four antenatal visits; delivery, whether normal or through Caesarean section; three postnatal check-ups; vaccinations for the child, and treatment for complications related to pregnancy.
Both outpatient and inpatient services were available in public health facilities as well as selected private hospitals that had contracts with NHIF.
