Tuesday, May 14th 2013, By GEOFFREY MOSOKUNairobi, Kenya: Cabinet secretaries approved by Parliament on Tuesday inherit a mountain of pending business in their race to ensure they fulfi l President Kenyatta’s promises for his fi rst 100 days in offi ce that began with his swearing in on April 9.
The 16 nominees are still shy of the full complement of 18 as two ministries, Interior and Coordination of National Government and Labour, Social Security nd Services are yet to be filled.
An amendment motion moved by Racheal Shebesh saved the nomination of Phyllis Kandie to head the East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism docket after the House passed it. Her first brief is to strengthen Kenya’s regional ties to promote cross border trade and investment.
The secretaries will preside over the merging of departments whose responsibilities overlap to reduce waste and ensure a lean and efficient Government, one of the promises President Kenyatta made to Kenyans.
Mr Henry Rotich, the Secretary for The National Treasury must deal with the headache of lowering the public service wage bill, even as MPs move ahead to increase their perks, teachers demand payment of allowances and County Assembly representatives seek higher pay.
President Kenyatta has termed the wage bill “unsustainable” and a serious threat to the funding of important development projects.”
As the holder of the purse, Rotich must coordinate spending cuts in all ministries to meet this objective, including a requirement that they give priority to youths and locally produced goods and materials.
The Health Secretary Mr James Wainaina Macharia’s first headache is to abolish maternity fees and ensure services at all public dispensaries and health centres are free.
Dr Hassan Wario, the Secretary for Sports Culture and Arts, must set up a new and stable Youth and Women Fund, with special emphasis on sports and entertainment. The fund will be financed from the Sh6 billion that had been set aside for a possible presidential runoff in the March 4 General Election.
The Education Secretary Prof Jacob Kaimenyi has to ensure a policy is in place to put a laptop in the hands of every child joining Standard One next year in public schools.
President Kenyatta also promised that his Government would take devolution seriously, and so the Secretary for Devolution and Planning, Ms Ann Waiguru, will have to show total support for the county governments and help them get off the ground despite their limited budgets.
“Fellow Kenyans, my Government will immediately begin the process of supporting devolution and enabling county leadership to carry out their constitutional mandate and fulfil the pledges they made to the Kenyan people,” promised Kenyatta in his inauguration speech on April 9.
All Cabinet secretaries face the headache of ensuring their procurement processes are faster, more accessible, and transparent inline with the President’s commitment to stamp out corruption in public procurement.
Electricity supply
The Energy and Petroleum Secretary Mr Davis Chirchir is charged with expanding electricity generation and extending the transmission network to make electricity supply more consistent and reliable to support industry. The Land, Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Mrs Charity Ngilu must support the National Land Commission while overseeing Jubilee’s promise to address the shortage of decent and affordable housing in cities.
Ensuring that Kenya’s natural resources are safeguarded, including the recently discovered oil, is the headache of the Environment, Water and Natural Resource Secretary, Prof Judy Wakhungu, who will oversee new policies to increase revenue from mining and make certain that communities in these areas also benefit. This is in addition to safeguarding the environment.
The new Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation and Enterprise Development, Adan Mohammed, is expected to use his extensive experience in the corporate sector to help his team develop polices to encourage value addition and manufacturing of finished goods using local products so as to diversify Kenya’s exports and create jobs.
Ms Raychelle Omamo, the new Defence Secretary must oversee Kenya’s military excursion in Somalia and achieve the even more difficult job of making defence procurement more transparent.
The new Cabinet secretaries will take their oaths of office in a ceremony to be presided over by the Chief Justice and attended by President Kenyatta who will chair the first sitting of the new Cabinet next week, reliable sources at the Office of The President said.
“The first Cabinet meeting will most likely take place on Thursday next week because Deputy President William Ruto is also expected back in the country from The Hague on the same day in the morning in time for the function,” said the source.
According to the Constitution, once Parliament approved the names of Cabinet nominees, the President formally appoints them setting the stage for their swearing in. President Kenyatta is expected to appoint them today with their swearing in expected by Friday.
“Each person appointed as a Cabinet Secretary assumes office by swearing or affirming faithfulness to the people and the Republic of Kenya and obedience to this Constitution, before the President and in accordance with the Third Schedule,” article 152 (4) of the constitution states.
Cabinet secretaries are not MPs and are accountable individually, and collectively, to the President.
They will be directly in charge of their ministries, unlike in the past when this was the preserve of the permanent secretaries (now called Principal Secretaries).
The Cabinet includes the President, Deputy President, Attorney General and Cabinet secretaries.
There is no longer a Head of the Civil Service and so the Secretary to the Cabinet will be restricted to taking down minutes during Cabinet meetings and planning for the same.
The current holder of the position Francis Kimemia was retained, when President Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled his cabinet nominees for ‘transition’ purposes.
The new Cabinet secretaries will not face questioning in Parliament. But they are required to appear before relevant House committees to answer queries related to their dockets.
“A Cabinet Secretary shall attend before a committee of the National Assembly, or the Senate, when required by the committee, and answer any question concerning a matter for which the Cabinet Secretary is responsible,” states Article 153 (3) of the Constitution.
In doing so, they must provide full and regular reports concerning matters under their control.
The President retains the right under the law to reshuffle the Cabinet secretaries and even sack them, but shares this mandate with Parliament, which can initiate the same through a Select Committee.
Article 152 (2) states’ “If a resolution under clause (9) (b) (ii) requiring the President to dismiss a Cabinet Secretary is supported by a majority of the members of the National Assembly—) the Speaker shall promptly deliver the resolution to the President; and the President shall dismiss the Cabinet Secretary.”
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