Muturi slams Ruto's 'stadium of advisors' as costly and ineffective

Former Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has criticised what he termed as ‘stadium of advisors’ that President William Ruto has contracted and so far, with little impact on the country.

Muturi said the many advisors for the President are akin to a small ‘cabinet within a cabinet’ yet the effects are skyrocketing taxes, collapsing hospitals, starving counties, and angry citizens.

He said contracting many advisors is not leadership but extravagance disguised as governance.

“Before Moses Kuria’s dramatic departure, Ruto’s advisory list read more like the seating plan of a small stadium than the streamlined brain trust of a functioning presidency. By the last count, he had over 20 named advisors across everything from economics to security, climate change to gender, and food security to politics. The list included Makau Mutua on the constitution, Monica Juma on national security, Dominic Menjo on food security, David Ndii on the economy, Hariette Chiggai on gender, Joseph Boinnet on national security, Abdi Guliye on livestock, Ali Mohamed on climate change, and many more,” Muturi said in a statement yesterday.

The former AG said what Kenya needs is not more advisors in the State House, but more investment in the frontline workers who build the nation.

According to Muturi, advisors are meant to provide specialized knowledge, craft policy solutions, and give the president the intellectual and strategic clarity to govern effectively.

When a president needs an entire platoon of advisors, Muturi said, it does not suggest strength but weakness, signals indecision, insecurity, and an inability to prioritise.

“The sheer number raises the question: Who really governs? Is it the cabinet? Is it the advisors? Is it the president? Or is it the chaos of too many voices whispering different agendas into the same ear? If you didn’t know better, you’d think Kenya had hired a small cabinet within a cabinet, an entire shadow government of advisors to the president,” he said.

Though arguments have been advanced that the president’s sprawling list of advisors reflects inclusivity, a recognition of Kenya’s diversity, or an embrace of expertise, Muturi said the picture blurs because many of them are not experts in their assigned fields.

Some are political allies recycled into “advisory” positions, with Muturi saying that reports suggest Ruto is eyeing individuals from Raila Odinga’s circles, raising suspicion that advisory roles are less about policy and more about political co-option.

“It is an old trick: if you cannot defeat your rivals, absorb them into meaningless posts, neutralize their voices, and keep them dependent. Advisory positions then become political parking lots, salaried waiting rooms where loyalty is bought, not brilliance harnessed,” Muturi stated.

He said the role of advisors has implications because each one comes with a salary, perks, office, staff, security detail, and travel allowance, in a country where teachers strike over pay, doctors down their tools for lack of salaries, and hospitals run out of drugs and the optics are infuriating.

“Imagine if even half of the budget allocated to presidential advisors were redirected to hiring more medics, paying teachers on time, or equipping schools. Imagine if those funds built laboratories, stocked clinics, or modernized vocational colleges. Instead, the money is poured into endless layers of advice that either go unheeded or drown in contradiction,” Muturi stated.

He said leadership is about making hard decisions, taking responsibility, and setting a clear course for the nation, but when a president surrounds himself with dozens of advisors on every subject, he creates the illusion that the government is run by consultation.

“Kenya does not lack advisors. It lacks leadership that listens to ordinary citizens. The true advisors of any president should not be a stadium full of well-paid elites but the lived realities of Kenyans. The mother giving birth on a hospital floor is an advisor if only the president would listen. The teacher improvising lessons under a tree is an advisor if only their voice mattered, the youth unemployed with a degree in hand is an advisor if only power respected their truth,” he said.

Muturi added: “Too many cooks spoil the broth, and too many advisors dilute accountability. When policy fails, who takes the blame? The president, or the advisors? When taxes suffocate Kenyans, do we blame David Ndii, Nancy Laibuni, Augustine Cheruiyot, or William Ruto himself? The multiplication of advisors blurs responsibility, leaving the public with no one to hold accountable.”

He said the many advisors around Ruto are a symptom of a deeper illness: the obsession with optics over outcomes.

By surrounding himself with legions of advisors, he said the president projects an image of consultative leadership, intellectual depth, and technocratic flair, but when reality bites, Kenyans are overtaxed, schools go unfunded, hospitals lack medicine, the illusion collapses.

“History will not remember how many advisors a president kept. It will remember whether he fed his people, educated their children, healed their sick, and protected their freedoms. Kenya needs fewer advisors and more results. It is time for the president to stop filling stadiums with advisors and start delivering for Kenyans. Leadership is not about hoarding voices but about hearing the right ones. It is not about endless consultation but about courageous action,” he argued.

He added: “If the president truly wants good advice, he does not look to Raila’s camp or to endless committees. He only needs to walk into a public hospital, a classroom, or a market stall. The people will tell him everything he needs to know. The question is not whether he has enough advisors. The question is whether he has the courage to listen.”