Saturday, November 23, 2013
In Summary
The
ICC trials against President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto are a
“distraction” that is hindering Cabinet secretaries from performing
their duties effectively.
It has emerged that a lot of
energy and focus is being expended on the ICC cases facing the Jubilee
principals, thus impacting on the performance of the Cabinet.
“It
(ICC) is a major distraction for everyone. No one knows what will
happen,” said University of Nairobi’s Prof Karuti Kanyinga.
Mr
Karugor Gatamah of the Africa Corporate Governance Advisory Services
compared the ICC cases to a nagging pain that “prevents even the best of
us from getting the best sleep” while COFEK secretary general Mr
Stephen Mutoro said Cabinet could do better without the cases.
“If
the ICC cases against the two principals were not there, a high
probability is that all CSs would have better leadership and enhanced
interest in their day-to-day work,” said Mr Mutoro.
Law
Society of Kenya chairman Eric Mutua estimates that the ICC cases are
taking up to 50 per cent of the government’s time “since the entire
government seems to be focused on how to deal with the cases”.
But
Leader of Majority Aden Duale dismissed the claims saying the
government has initiated a number of developments projects that have no
relation to ICC such as the President attending the 3rd Africa-Arab
Summit, the launch of Uwezo Fund and the opening of Huduma Centre.
“The
Port of Mombasa is operating at 90 per cent efficiency, the Executive
has brought 21 Bills, 15 of which have been passed and assented to in
eight months, IDPs that could not be resettled in five years have been
resettled in eight months and the President is due to launch the
standard gauge railway. These are not related to ICC, which is there and
is being handled by the legal teams,” said Mr Duale. In addition, Mr
Duale said the government is in the process of launching a mega
irrigation project in Galana.
The two principals, along with former journalist Joshua Sang have been charged with crimes against humanity at the ICC.
As a result of the ICC cases, the government has been aggressively seeking to protect the President from standing trial.
Kenya
is currently engaged in a vigorous campaign among the ICC member states
at the Assembly of State Parties in The Hague to pass an amendment to
the Rome Statute that will shield sitting heads of state and government
from being charged at the ICC.
Commenting on the
performance of the Cabinet, the Federation of Kenya Employers said the
secretaries have been a big let-down in the short time they have been in
office.
“Some of the Cabinet Secretaries have really
stood out. I think the handling of the JKIA fire incident is a good
example of when the government spoke with one voice and moved swiftly to
return things to normal,” FKE executive director Jacqueline Mugo said.
According
to Ms Mugo, contrary to the high expectations Kenyans had on the
technocrats, some of the cabinet secretaries have been missing in
action.
“They were expected to hit the ground running
and establish themselves. This didn’t happen as we are yet to feel their
impact. It is also unfortunate that some have immersed themselves in
politicking yet the President promised that all Cabinet secretaries will
shun politics. We are also seeing tenets of sycophancy creeping in,”
said Ms Mugo.
Former Housing minister Soita Shitanda
pointed to “silent wars” between the cabinet secretaries and their
principal secretaries that are undermining service delivery.
Mr
Shitanda said while the original thinking was to make the cabinet
secretaries the accounting officers in ministries, that did not happen.
As such the accounting function still rests with the principal secretary
who can authorise expenditure.
Consequently, he said, this has created suspicion between the two offices.
“I
think we have lot of underperformance, perhaps because of conflict of
roles. If something happens in the ministry, the cabinet secretary will
be held accountable yet they are not the accounting officers,” said Mr
Shitanda.
He also said it was becoming apparent that
the President listens more to his advisers at State House instead of the
cabinet secretaries.
Mr Gatamah, however, said that
while it is not easy to rate the performance of the cabinet secretaries;
they have failed to create impressions that Kenyans would associate
with.
Going forward, Mr Gatamah said the parameters to
be considered in the evaluation should be: How they have exercised
leadership; and, the extent to which they have shown commitment to
eliminate incompetence and corruption in their ministries.
No comments:
Post a Comment