Sakaja endorses Ruto’s ‘mambo ni matatu’ phrase on corrupt cartels
President William Ruto’s mambo ni matatu (three options) phrase used to warn corrupt leaders has received endorsement from Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja.
While a section of lobby groups and opposition leaders have come out to criticize the phrase, Governor Sakaja has embraced it and is now using it to issue a warning to cartels who have been stealing medicine from public hospitals.
Speaking on August 31, 2023, when he launched new Imara ECD Primary block in Kayole, the county boss said that the cartels have three options.
The governor stated that the county will no longer allow anyone to terrorize the residents by grabbing lands, and frustrating health benefits which have so far been made by his administration since it came into power.
“We will not allow that. Njia yenu ni fupi na mambo yenu ni matatu; utafute gari ya kuhama Nairobi, ya pili ni jela nay a tatu ni tukusafirishe uended mbinguni (your days are numbered and your options are three; to leave Nairobi, be jailed or be taken to heaven),” Sakaja said.
The governor added that his administration recently reclaimed a piece of land from a private developer who had encroached into a medical facility in Eastleigh Airbase ward.
“We will not demolish the building but take it as a donation to us we have fenced it and will be used as a residential place for our nurses, and doctors.”
The governor who was accompanied by County Executive Committee member of Education Rosemary Kariuki and a number of MCAs said that Nairobi residents should take part in fighting corruption by reporting such cases.
The mambo ni matatu phrase was used by President Ruto while in his visit to the Western region, where he warned cartels whom he claimed to be behind struggling sugarcane industries in the region.
“I have told all those people to get out. That company is a public company and we will reorganize it. If they make me angry, there are three things, either leave Kenya, end up in jail, or go to heaven,” Ruto said.
According to the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), such remarks are a threat to the constitution and demand that the President should apologize.
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