Former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi has come out strongly to reject claims by President William Ruto that the two are in constant communication and that plans are underway for him to be appointed to a government position.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with Weru TV on Sunday, April 20, 2025, Linturi described the president’s remarks as misleading and false.
President Ruto, while touring Meru County in April 2025 as part of his wider Mt Kenya development tour, had suggested that he and Linturi were friends who had been engaging in talks about a potential state appointment for the embattled former CS.
Ruto was responding to calls from new Meru Governor Mutuma M’ethingia and other local leaders, who had urged the head of state to reinstate Linturi into government, insisting he was unfairly dismissed.
However, Linturi categorically denied being in any form of talks with the president, insisting they last spoke on December 10, 2024, while he had accompanied Meru bishops who had been invited to State House by the president.
“Mutuma did well for having asked Ruto to give me a job in government. He did well, and I would want Meru people to know that he is a good man,” Linturi acknowledged. “But after he spoke, the president responded and said, ‘Mithika nitampanga na tunaongea na yeye. That was wrong. He said I’m his friend, and we were in talks to finalise him giving me a state job. That is a lie.”
Linturi, who was dismissed from cabinet earlier this year over the fake fertiliser scandal, appeared visibly agitated by what he termed a deliberate misrepresentation of facts by the president.
“The last time we spoke was on 10th December. And I had not gone to look for a job. We had gone together with Meru bishops. That was the last time. So for him to come and tell people that we talk and we keep talking is a lie,” he said.
The former senator further declared, in no uncertain terms, that he had no interest in rejoining Ruto’s administration.
He maintained that he is perfectly capable of fending for himself, reiterating—just as he has on previous occasions—that he is neither willing nor desperate to accept a state appointment from President Ruto, who, he noted, failed to support him during his tenure as Agriculture Cabinet Secretary
“I also want to say unequivocally that I do not want his job. I am not interested. This is the first time I was in a situation where I was given a job and then fired. So now I can look for a job for myself. I don’t need him. I respect Meru people because they believe in me,” he said defiantly.
In a surprising shift of tone, Linturi hinted at the beginning of a new political path, suggesting he was aligning himself with a new wave of dissatisfied Kenyans who believe the country is veering off course.
“I am talking because I have now seen that things are not moving in the right direction. So I have decided to seek like-minded people who feel the country is not being driven well. We shall gather efforts and see whether we will be able to rescue Kenya,” he said.
When asked whether this meant he was joining former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s perceived emerging wing, Linturi clarified that his reference to like-minded people was not tied to specific politicians or political camps.
“Like-minded people do not necessarily mean Rigathi Gachagua, but rather the disgruntled Kenyans who have been seeing how badly the country is being run and those disillusioned by the fake promises being meted out by the government. Like-minded means everyone, not just those eyeing seats, but even the wananchi,” he explained.