Editor's Review

According to the Senator Aaron Cheruiyot, the pages that the President skipped must have had weightier issues he found uncomfortable to address

Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot has revealed an observation he made during President Uhuru Kenyatta's State of the Nation Address at Parliament on Tuesday, November 30.

In a message to Garissa Town MP Aden Duale and Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung'wa, the MP revealed that he sat close to the Speaker's stand and saw President Uhuru skip several pages of his speech.

The President speech was 260 pages and about 16,000 words long.

According to the MP, the pages that the President skipped must have had weightier issues he found uncomfortable to address.

{President Uhuru Kenyatta inspects a guard of honour ahead of his address at Parliament. Image: Courtesy}

"My friends @KIMANIICHUNGWAH and @HonAdenDuale should excuse Pres. Kenyatta. I sat close to the speaker's stand. I assure you, the pages he skipped due to the length of his speech had a chapter on the Pandora loot and the Kemsa Covid billionaires," he tweeted.

His message comes hot on the heels of a buzz generated by the President's address with leaders across the political divide giving their reactions.

To allies of Deputy President William Ruto, theirs was knee jerk reaction given that nearly all of them criticised the address.

Many complained that the Presidents speech was long and lacked issues they wanted him to address.

"The President's address is not an open cheque the Constitution gives him specific issues he must address. He has to address the National Security issue. He is supposed to talk about the National Debt, you can not talk about the GDP growth and Kenya being the 6th wealthiest in African but you leave behind a huge debt. What about court orders? He did not do so," Duale said.

Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, a UDA party stalwart, also agreed with his Tanga Tanga allies that the president missed important issues.

"In a score of out of 10, I would give Jubilee government 4 and it is because he didn’t mention anything about corruption because his family members benefited from corruption and also he didn’t mention anything about the Pandora papers," he said.

President Uhuru in his address listed several development projects his government has done ranging from roads infrastructure, economy to political stability.

According to the President, Kenya ranked 12th among the wealthiest nation in Africa when he took over with a GDP of about Sh4.7 trillion but after his 9 years of service, the country stands at position 6th with a GDP of Sh11 trillion.