Musalia Mudavadi continues to show that he is one of the most wasteful and unproductive figures in government today.
His recent trip to London’s King’s Cross Railway City alongside President William Ruto is a perfect example of how public officials continue to misuse resources under the pretense of gathering insights.
This visit was not new, not necessary, and certainly not productive. The same trip was made less than two years ago by the same administration, where they gave the same speeches, took the same staged photos, and made the same hollow promises.
Fast forward to now, and there is nothing on the ground to show for it. Nairobi Railways City remains a fantasy sold to the public through PowerPoint presentations, inflated figures, and foreign tours.
Musalia, who holds the title of Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs Minister, has done nothing to justify his position or salary apart from globe-trotting and duplicating functions already covered by other offices.
The Nairobi Railways City project was supposed to be transformative. Kenyans were promised a 425-acre urban center complete with a new railway station, modern public transport systems, and affordable housing integrated into the city’s master plan. Instead, what we have is a mountain of consultancy reports, concept art, and speeches filled with buzzwords like “sustainable,” “inclusive,” and “world-class.” Musalia Mudavadi has failed to move this project forward in any meaningful way. While the public waits for progress, he boards planes to repeat meetings and pretend that traveling to Europe somehow qualifies as leadership. His London visit was nothing more than a recycling of old ideas packaged as new.
This shows just how disconnected he is from the real struggles facing ordinary Kenyans who continue to suffer from poor infrastructure, high transport costs, and unaffordable urban housing.
Mudavadi has become a master of symbolic leadership full of titles and photo-ops but empty when it comes to delivery. The Nairobi Railways City project has so far consumed billions in planning with very little physical development to show.
Phase one was supposed to include a new railway terminal and several public access points, but even that has dragged on. Meanwhile, real commuters in Nairobi struggle daily with matatu chaos, train delays, and collapsing roads. Instead of addressing these issues head-on, Mudavadi flies around giving flowery speeches and bringing back glossy foreign models that are never implemented.
His actions clearly show that his interest is not in changing lives but in maintaining political relevance by appearing busy.
Kenyans deserve to know how many millions are being spent on these foreign excursions and what actual outcomes are being delivered.
How many jobs have been created from these trips? How many homes have been built under the housing promise in Railways City?
How has urban transport improved since the first trip to London? The answer is nothing, none, and nowhere. This is why Kenyans are losing trust in public officials like Musalia. He has held power in various positions for decades, yet his name is missing from any list of impactful achievements.
Nairobi Railways City had the potential to become his defining legacy, but now it looks set to become another project lost in corruption, incompetence, and empty promises.
There is no point in flooding international meetings when the local situation is broken and ignored. A leader who truly cares about development does not need a second or third trip to Europe to understand how to fix public transport or manage urban growth. What Kenyans need is action, not ceremonies. Musalia Mudavadi has once again wasted an opportunity to show real leadership.
He is using his high-ranking position as a shield against accountability, yet delivering nothing to justify the trust placed in him. The Railways City is not a dream Kenyans want postponed.
It is a need, and unless the current leadership stops wasting money on international excursions and starts building results on the ground, this project will die like so many others. And Musalia Mudavadi will be remembered not as a statesman but as another empty suit who watched while Kenya waited.
