Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has launched a scathing attack on the Kenya Kwanza administration’s economic empowerment drives, calling them “tokenistic” and “demeaning” to citizens.

In an exclusive interview on TV47 and Radio47 on Wednesday night, Matiang’i said it was wrong for leaders in government to deploy hundreds of millions of shillings on handouts instead of long-term development.

“Leadership is about solving problems. What kind of problem can you solve with Sh64? It is a joke. When you give people KSh100 and you want to be seen as a hero and worshipped,” he said.

The former CS questioned why the millions allegedly earmarked for empowerment programmes could not instead be used to build schools in counties. According to Matiang’i real development requires long-term investment rather than “handouts.”

He also criticized leaders for using helicopters to distribute small amounts of money and goods to the public.

“This is not improving people’s lives whatsoever. That is why they use animal imagery. They see those people like animals, it’s like when you give your cows grass so you can milk them,” he said.

Matiang’i was reacting to a series of empowerment events going on across the country involving government leaders.

Recently, President William Ruto invited hundreds of youth to State House to receive items such as motorbikes, cash, among other items to boost small businesses.

This is even as some groups, particularly women organisations, have publicly complained that the programmes give them only “peanuts” and fail to address their real economic challenges.

The situations Matiang’i said should not happen in a country like Kenya decades after independence.

“Kenya is better than this. We must have honest conversations with our people about what actually lifts them out of poverty,” Matiang’i stated..