Kenyans may have to wait until mid week for Cabinet nominees

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto (on Uhuru’s right) when they met with permanent secretaries from the ministries of Special Programmes, Housing, Roads, Education, Agriculture, Medical Services, Public Health and Finance at State House, Nairobi, recently. Photo/PPS  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By SUNDAY NATION Team newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Saturday, April 20   2013 

IN SUMMARY

• House team to carry out the vetting of those named has not yet been put together
• President and his deputy have kept the final decision to themselves, keeping allies guessing
• President and deputy will have to balance competing political, regional and party loyalty interests with those of an efficient government that will deliver on their ambitious promises

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto face a huge test as they prepare their Cabinet — the team that will lead implementation of their coalition’s ambitious manifesto.

Eleven days since the two leaders were sworn into office, the Cabinet list remains a matter of high political speculation and intense lobbying, with indications that the president’s aides and allies have been sworn into silence or cut off from information.

On Saturday, Mr Ruto told a congregation at the opening of Winners’ Chapel, a church on Mombasa Road, that the Cabinet would be “all-inclusive with people of honour and integrity that will satisfy all Kenyans”.

He said President Kenyatta was unable to attend the function but was “busy crafting the Cabinet” and that he had sent him to the function to convey a message of hope and inspiration that the country was poised for greater things.

He urged Christians to pray for the nation and the new leadership to realise the desired changes.

Part of the reason that the names of the nominees to Cabinet have not been released is that the committee in the National Assembly that would scrutinise and vet the nominees is yet to be formed.

Additionally, the Public Service Commission is yet to complete the demanding task of sifting through the more than 1,500 applications from people interested in becoming Principal Secretaries, the new name for Permanent Secretaries. The Public Service Commission is expected to submit a list of names from which pool the President will pick nominees for PS jobs.

Under the new Constitution, Cabinet Secretaries are nominated by the President from those he may wish to have on his team but must be approved by Parliament before they are appointed to office.

Cabinet Secretaries shall be the heads of the ministries and shall be accountable to the President while PSs will be the accounting officers.

After President Kenyatta has completed his list of nominees, he will dispatch it to House Speaker Justin Muturi who will then transmit it to the House Committee on Appointments for scrutiny.

The Committee on Appointments will present a report on the nominees to Parliament where MPs will vote to approve or reject part or the entire list of nominees.

House Majority Leader Aden Duale told the Sunday Nation the House Business Committee would meet on Tuesday morning to consider the names of those who would sit on the Committee on Appointments.

“We expect to take that list to the House on Tuesday afternoon and have the committee in place by Wednesday. The infrastructure of Parliament will then be ready for the Cabinet nominees by the President,” Mr Duale said.

That would mean that even if the President were to name his nominees before the Committee on Appointments is in place, the list would still have to await scrutiny and approval as the House rules stipulate.

The 28-member Committee on Appointments will be chaired by National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi and will include his deputy and the Leaders and Deputy Leaders of the Majority and Minority in the House. The Speaker will have no vote.

Yesterday, Minority Leader Francis Nyenze told the Sunday Nation the nominees will be subjected to thorough scrutiny.

“The Cabinet must reflect regional balance, be people of integrity, people who haven’t been involved in any corruption and people who have demonstrated competence in various fields,” said Mr Nyenze.

He said the committee would be on the lookout for “non-performers and recycled leaders”.Mr Nyenze said the committee would be expected to come up with some criteria on which the nominees would be vetted, adding that whatever criteria are arrived at must be followed strictly.

With President Kenyatta’s Jubilee Coalition enjoying a comfortable majority in the House, the creation of the committees has raised concerns that his supporters could dominate the teams.

On Wednesday morning, Mr John Mbadi (Suba, ODM) said the Coalition on Reforms and Democracy had been sidelined in the formation of the House Business and Selection committees.

Jubilee has 17 and Cord 14 MPs on the HBC. Jubilee has 13 in the Committee on Selection, while Cord has eight, in keeping with the proportions set out by the Standing Orders which provide that each party brings on board members in proportion to their parliamentary strength.

Mr Mbadi argued that if this pattern is to be repeated in the rest of the committees, Cord would be at a disadvantage in executing their Opposition mandate.

Mr Nyenze said that in the vetting, the committee members ought to rise above party interests.

“They (Jubilee) may have a few numbers ahead of us but the vetting should not be on party basis or party positions.”

The committee’s job would be made easier if the Jubilee leaders constitute a government largely comprising fresh faces and professionals drawn from both the public service as well as experts from the private sector with demonstrated ability to render distinguished service.

It is understood that they are keen on doing this. Already, the Presidency has settled on an 18-ministry structure of government.

Internal Security and the system previously known as the Provincial Administration have been placed under the Office of the President as in previous regimes.

If they are to wait until the Parliamentary committee is formed, Kenyans may have to wait up to mid or the end of next week before the names that President Kenyatta and his Deputy Ruto have settled on can be known.

President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto will have to balance competing political, regional and party loyalty interests with that of an efficient government that would deliver on their ambitious promises laid out in the Jubilee manifesto.

Besides the Cabinet, President Kenyatta is expected to reconstitute other sections of government and which could be as far reaching as who will man diplomatic postings and who will head parastatals.

During the second presidential debate ahead of last year’s elections, Mr Kenyatta alluded to reorganising the ministry of Foreign Affairs and said that more effective embassies would mean less government delegation travels abroad and that would help to save on costs.

All 52 ambassadors have been summoned to Nairobi for briefings on the new administration’s foreign policy and are expected to meet the President and his Deputy any time this coming week.

There has been intense lobbying for key positions with some interested parties pushing their peers and preferences volunteering unofficial lists and false leaks to journalists.

But close aides of the two have confirmed that the president and his deputy have kept the final decisions to themselves and key political allies have only been left to guess about whether their preferences will make it through or not.

“We have also been waiting for the key decision like everybody else. Only the two leaders have been working on the list,” said a key Jubilee figure who was a major player in the campaigns but who requested anonymity because he didn’t want to displease the presidency.He said the two had closed the critical decision to themselves and a handful of advisers who had been sworn to secrecy.

The two leaders, the aide said, are also keen to ensure their Cabinet choices do not put a taint on the image of the Jubilee coalition that had promised freshness, efficiency and regional diversity.

This is informed by the care not to fall into the 2003 Kibaki situation when he was criticised for reneging on a pre-election power-sharing deal between him and Mr Raila Odinga and which misstep would prove costly for his presidency.

President Kenyatta’s TNA and Mr Ruto’s URP signed up for a 50-50 power sharing agreement and agreed on portfolio sharing ahead of the elections.

Speaking in Kisumu County on Friday, President Kenyatta expressed commitment to form a government that reflects the face of Kenya.

President Kenyatta spoke after some leaders, including Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and Siaya Senator James Orengo, appealed to him to include professionals from the region in his administration.

Reported by John Ngirachu, Julius Sigei and Gekara Mayaka