“It should be remembered that due to my closeness with Uhuru, I lobbied for Kajiado West to get two districts, namely, Kajiado West and Iloodokilani,” explains Sakuda. “I was also able to push for the establishment of the Kajiado West Technical Institute.”
Due to his health problems Moses Sakuda had toyed with the possibility of retiring from politics, but with health restored, he his raring to give politics another shot.
“Leadership is a vision I have nursed for a long time,” explains Sakuda. “For me, it is not just leadership for leadership’s sake, but a calling to serve the people. That is why I am running to become the third senator of this great county.”
He explains that after his thanksgiving ceremony in December he consulted with close family members who were initially worried over his health, seeing as ‘politics is so involving’. “In the end they gave their blessings for me to go back to what I love best, working to change the lives of people,” he adds.
He believes that there is a leadership gap in Kajiado, hence his decision to ran for the Senate position. “I want to push for more revenue for this county and to ensure that Kajiado has a voice among other counties unlike now,” he adds.
He says that his track record as Kajiado West MP speaks for itself. “It should be remembered that due to my closeness with Uhuru, I lobbied for Kajiado West to get two districts, namely, Kajiado West and Iloodokilani,” explains Sakuda. “I was also able to push for the establishment of the Kajiado West Technical Institute.”
Still, as Kajiado West MP, Sakuda says that he was able to effectively lobby the national government to construct that Ngong Suswa Road, which effectively opened up the Narok, Bomet economic corridor. “I was also able to lobby for the repair of the Isinya, Kiserian, Pipeline road, which was in a bad state of disrepair,” he adds.
His friendship with the president also came in handy as he was able to convince him to put up a Huduma Centre in Olepolos. “Kajiado West is the only constituency headquarter with a Huduma Centre. All other Huduma Centres are in county headquarters,” says Sakuda.
If elected as senator, Sakuda, the former Kajiado West MP, says that he will be pushing for efficiency in government. “Having worked in the US for over ten years, I know what efficiency means. It means that public officials do not waste time. There are public offices, where a month lapses before a simple memo can be responded to.”
One of the changes he intends to introduce when he gets to Senate is the sensitive issue non-payment by contractors in the counties. “I would propose that once contractors complete their jobs, they be paid directly from the national government, before the money reaches the counties,” he explains. “We have lots of contractors who have lost their businesses and livelihoods after lenders auctioned them due to the fact that they have not been paid by county governments.”
Sakuda, who revealed that he will be launching his senatorial bid in March, joins a packed field of contestants who seek to unseat the incumbent Philip Mpaayei. They include, nominated senator Judith Pareno, Kajiado County Assembly Speaker, Johnson Osoi, former Education CEC, Samuel Seki, and land activist, Daniel Tinaai and Brian Sekento.
