Solve national crisis

President William Ruto’s list of 20 Cabinet Secretary nominees is awaiting vetting by Parliament. Just like the first group of 10 nominees, the second lot of a similar number contains some surprises, but is still a far cry from what the Gen Z protesters, who have been pressing for drastic changes would have expected.

Conspicuously missing are the young professionals that had been expected to drive reform. Instead, we have a recycling of some of the people in the Cabinet that the President dismissed. They have now been joined by some veteran opposition politicians, including former governors and current MPs.

This is a manifestation of a deal between President Ruto and Azimio and ODM kingpin Raila Odinga. This move has split the opposition coalition and its death knell has now definitely been sounded. Mr Odinga is also facing dissent in his own ODM party.

As the politicians share positions, the challenge is quelling the deep anger and mistrust among youth, who have for nearly a month been staging peaceful demonstrations.

There is a lot of anger among the young people, who have defied warnings by President Ruto and still found their way into the streets of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and other towns to stage demos.

The President is rebuilding his Cabinet against deep public scepticism fuelled by his decision to bring back some of his unpopular former CSs. But facing the biggest test are the MPs, who will vet the nominees. They must try to banish the belief that they just rubber-stamp decisions by the Executive.

With the people upset about the brutal attacks on peaceful protesters by the police, the President must do more to regain public confidence. His announcement that the government will drop charges against innocent people arrested during the protests is a good gesture. However, the people want the brutal officers who shot dead the 50 protesters brought to book.