Kindiki boldly told President Ruto that I was a bad person; Mithika Linturi
Kindiki boldly told President Ruto that I was a bad person; Mithika Linturi
Former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi has sensationally claimed that Deputy President Kithure Kindiki accused him of being the root cause of political chaos in Meru County during a phone conversation with President William Ruto.
Speaking during an interview with Weru TV on Sunday, April 20, 2025, Linturi, who was impeached in May 2024, recounted a tense exchange that he said took place in December 2024 while he was in the company of President Ruto.
According to Linturi, the Head of State had phoned Kindiki in an attempt to resolve the deepening political cracks in Meru, only for the former Interior CS to firmly discredit him.
“I was right there with the president when he rang Kindiki and asked if I was one of them,” Linturi recounted. “Kindiki boldly told the president that I was the one who had destroyed Meru, that I was a bad person. The president asked him to reach out to me as a brother and talk – but instead, he was there reporting me,” he said.
Linturi said the phone call was merely the culmination of a behind-the-scenes campaign being orchestrated against him by the former Tharaka Nithi senator.
He further claimed that earlier in December, Kindiki had summoned Meru MCAs to his residence and instructed them to distance themselves from him.
“He told them that I was poisoning them and fighting the government,” said Linturi. “I’m not lying. Even if Kindiki is listening now, let him hear the truth.”
Despite the political friction, Linturi said he tried to remain silent for the sake of the MCAs and the broader Meru community, but the weight of blame placed on him has compelled him to speak out. He said the MCAs would privately urge him not to publicly criticise the government, fearing it could spark instability and hamper development in their wards.
“We have a good crop of MCAs in Meru. They can’t lie,” Linturi said. “They used to come to me and plead that I shouldn’t fault the government. They told me chaos would erupt if I did, and they wouldn’t get the help they needed.”
Linturi added that he had attempted to raise concerns directly with President Ruto about how Kindiki was treating him, including the apparent refusal to communicate with him.
“I was just telling the president, kindly tell your deputy to style up. There was a lot of disrespect,” he added. “People from Meru were bringing me problems. And I told him to at least convince Kindiki to pick up calls. Even Njuri Ncheke elders feel like he’s a child—they can’t bring weighty community matters to him.”
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In the same explosive interview, Linturi also cleared the air on the fake fertiliser scandal that ultimately cost him his cabinet post.
He claimed that he was not even in Kenya when the tainted consignment was imported.
According to him, he was on an official state mission in the Central African Republic alongside President Ruto—and had absolutely no role in the deal.
“When the fertiliser came, I was in the Central African Republic. It was around May 2021, and I was with the president, actually. I was on official duty… When it comes to the fake fertiliser, I am not responsible at all.”
Linturi also said he was blindsided by the news of the fertiliser seizure, calling the moment surreal.
“So when I was informed that such a thing had happened, it felt like a movie to me,” he said. “I tried hard to understand the matter. Why didn’t I tell people back then? There were so many issues, and I chose to stay quiet, but now it’s become too much. I’ve been holding everything in, and I’ve nearly exploded.”
He insisted that the entire blame was conveniently dumped on him, a move he says was meant to protect bigger political interests—echoing earlier claims by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua that Linturi was a sacrificial lamb.
“And we managed to convince Parliament, and they acquitted me—so on the matter of acquiring the fertiliser, I wasn’t involved. So, like Gachagua said, he was right.”
“Now it’s been nine months since I was impeached. I am no longer willing to keep carrying the blame for Kenyans, and I’ve been following up and realised people truly believed I was the one behind the fertiliser. Even here in Meru, people nowadays only associate me with the fertiliser scandal. For how long will I keep receiving criticism for something I wasn’t part of? So, like Gachagua said, there were others who orchestrated the fertiliser deal,” he said.
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