President William Ruto has defended his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, over the Linda Mama programme, even as Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale criticised the former Head of State’s health legacy.
Speaking during the launch of Umma University’s School of Engineering in Kajiado County on Tuesday, September 30, Ruto acknowledged that his administration had borrowed heavily from Linda Mama to build its successor programme, Linda Jamii, which now covers prenatal, natal, and postnatal care for expectant mothers.
“Maybe let me use this occasion to defend my former boss, the former President. We should be a bit more magnanimous toward him. The Linda Mama programme was a great initiative developed under President Uhuru, and we learnt a lot from it,” Ruto said.
“Because of the experiences from Linda Mama, we designed Linda Jamii as an improvement, and beyond that, we now even have Universal Health Coverage.”
Duale’s Criticism
While Ruto struck a reconciliatory tone, CS Aden Duale took a more confrontational stance. Without mentioning Uhuru by name, he accused the former regime of presiding over a broken health system and failing to deliver sustainable reforms.
“We want to ask those who critique us in matters of health, education, and other sectors to do so with facts and figures. If you think Linda Mama was a big thing, how come it did not reduce the maternal mortality rate in our country?” Duale posed.
Uhuru’s Defence of His Record
The remarks came days after Uhuru, during the Jubilee Party Special National Delegates Conference (NDC) at Ngong Racecourse, defended his administration’s record.
Uhuru highlighted Linda Mama among key successes of his tenure, while criticising the Kenya Kwanza government for replacing tested programmes with “untried and untested projects,” leaving citizens to bear the burden as they await results.
He also cautioned the government against using state resources to attack citizens instead of improving their lives.
