The dream team Uhuru and Ruto expect to drive the Jubilee agenda

President Mwai Kibaki with Permanent Secretaries during the official farewell luncheon hosted by the Public Service in his honour at State House, Nairobi, two weeks ago. Some of the officers will form part of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government while others will have to leave. PPS 

By SUNDAY NATION Team newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Saturday, April 13  2013 at  20:05

IN SUMMARY

• Among those who may be lined up for positions are politicians Charity Ngilu, Najib Balala, Chirau Mwakwere and Prof Sam Ongeri, who ran for elective political office unsuccessfully.

Key political allies and quintessential civil servants are among those who will form the dream team that President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto hope will help them implement the Jubilee agenda.

Names of those who will populate key government positions are expected to be released to the country Monday afternoon after President Kenyatta attends a meeting at the United Nations complex in Nairobi, aides familiar with his diary told the Sunday Nation.

Among those who may be lined up for positions are politicians Charity Ngilu, Najib Balala, Chirau Mwakwere and Prof Sam Ongeri, who ran for elective political office unsuccessfully.

Another consideration is that of former Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa who has been an in and out political ally of the President and his deputy as they journeyed towards State House, aides of the presidency who spoke to the Sunday Nation on condition of anonymity because they hadn’t been authorised to speak to the media, said.
Mr Ndemo

Other players who have featured strongly include Head of Civil Service Francis Kimemia, envoy Amina Mohammed who is currently gunning for a position as World Trade Organisation director general, Ms Nancy Gitau who served in the previous administration as the head of the political unit in the Office of the President and Information and Communication PS Bitange Ndemo.

Politicians Naomi Shabaan, a former Cabinet minister and now MP for Taita Taveta, and Raphael Tuju, a former presidential aspirant, have also been in the running for consideration.

The aides said in different interviews that President Kenyatta and the DP have kept their choices a closely guarded secret and the entirety of their consideration and the choices they make will only be known in full tomorrow as they unveil nominees of the first Cabinet under the new Constitution.
Some of the sources from the presidency that the Sunday Nation spoke to said that a list of Cabinet Secretary nominees was complete by Wednesday awaiting the major announcement.

But the idea of naming it on Thursday was shelved to allow for further consideration and await a shortlist from the Public Service Commission for the Principal Secretary jobs.

The law allows the President to directly nominate Cabinet Secretaries and present the names to Parliament for approval but only to pick Principal Secretary nominees from a shortlist prepared by PSC.

Vetted and approved

PSC had advertised for interested persons to apply for PS jobs before the elections and have readvertised twice since (see related story on page 20).

The new Cabinet will take shape fully after MPs have vetted and approved the nominees. If a nominee is rejected by Parliament, the President is expected to forward the name of a replacement to the Speaker of the National Assembly for consideration by the House.

Cabinet consultation has been taking place since Mr Kenyatta was declared president-elect on March 9.

Soon after they were declared the winners by the IEBC – and with a petition against them running in the Supreme Court – he flew for a retreat in Mombasa with his deputy where they are reported to have worked on a large part of the Cabinet.

President Kenyatta and his deputy also have other positions left vacant by civil servants who opted to try their hand in the just concluded General Election.

Former Public Service minister Dalmas Otieno told Parliament last year that 115 civil servants had left various government positions for elective politics. Thirty-three of those who left were either chairmen or members of the boards and councils at state corporations.

There are 15 vacancies in the provincial administration – currently undergoing restructuring to be in tune with the new Constitution – following the departure of District Commissioners and District Officers.

Five parastatal chief executive officers have also left the civil service as did five permanent secretaries. The position of permanent secretary has been abolished and their successors will be known as principal secretaries.At least five envoys – Julius Sunkuli, Stephen Tarus, Ukur Yatani, Francis Sigei and Kembi Gitura also resigned from their posts to join politics.

The President usually has a direct or indirect say in who occupies vital government positions depending on what the provisions of the law say.

The names of Cabinet secretaries and principal secretaries nominated will be forwarded to parliamentary committees in charge of vetting and tabled on the floor of the House for clearance before they are sent to the President for proper appointments.

This will be the first business of Parliament.

Among the hurdles that have hindered the quick naming of the Cabinet is the collapsing of the 42 ministries that formed the Grand Coalition government headed by former President Kibaki and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to form the constitutional threshold of between 14 and 22 ministries.

Retaining some of the best performing principal secretaries is one of the considerations the two leaders have been tackling while ensuring they also employ fresh faces who are efficient in their jobs to ensure not only a robust economy but service delivery to all.

“Some permanent secretaries will have to go home; others will be absorbed in the new dispensation. The challenge the principals are facing is who goes where and how do we incorporate new faces for service delivery and efficiency in the digital government,” said a source privy to the Wednesday State House meeting.

Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto are said to have agreed on a new structure which will represent a departure from the system that has been used since independence in which the President-elect determined the number and type of ministries that would constitute his government.

In the new structure, ministries that have similar functions have been merged and ministerial duties restructured to reduce the number of Cabinet members.

A proposal drafted by a committee chaired by Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia indicated that the new ministries would have senior deputy secretaries who will head the different departments, especially in the big ministries.

“We will have senior deputy secretaries, especially those who will have qualified as principal secretaries but will not have taken up those positions. They will head the powerful departments in the specific ministries,” Mr Kimemia said in an earlier interview.

The Constitution places the number of Cabinet positions to between 14 and 22. His committee presented these recommendations to President Kenyatta; some of the major proposals have been adopted in the creation of the new administration.

Some of the considerations in picking nominees for top government jobs include national unity and delivery of constitutional obligations.

They are also considering innovativeness and creativity in the context of history, legacy and institutional memory, budget considerations, span of control and economies of scale, efficiency and effectiveness, functional complementarity, the Vision 2030 blueprint, and emerging trends and challenges
.