Uhuru’s shift from a Cabinet of technocrats to one of politicians

From Left: Mr John Munyes who has been nominated CS Petroleum and Mining, Mr Samuel Chelugui, Water CS nominee and Farida Karoney, the Lands CS nominee. PHOTOS | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Creation of the new offices is bound to raise controversy, and could well attract legal challenges.     
  • Rewarded also on political considerations of former Marsabit Governor Ukur Yattani who gets the Labour docket.

  • Two of the most interesting newcomers are Mr Rashid Achesa at the Sports and National Heritage docket and Ms Farida Karoney at Land.

When President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto named their first Jubilee cabinet in 2013, the accent was on highly-qualified, apolitical technocrats with track records of effective delivery in corporate boardrooms, the professions, academia and public service. 

Indeed, the cabinet of 18 had only three politicians. President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, then operating in a power-sharing relationship, were seen to have reneged on their own promise of an apolitical cabinet when Mrs Charity Ngilu and Mr Najib Balala were included.

It was generally appreciated, however, that the two made the cut because they were “owners” of the two junior parties in the Jubilee coalition – National Rainbow Coalition and Republican Congress Party – and they needed to be rewarded for sticking their necks out by standing on Jubilee tickets in fiercely opposition zones, Ukambani and Coast, where their established parliamentary careers were guaranteed to come to a halt. The other politician in the original team was Mr Kazungu Kambi, also from the Coast like Mr Balala but seen to represent the indigenous communities unlike the latter who is from immigrant communities of Arab stock. 

CORRUPTION PROBES
It might be instructive that Mrs Ngilu and Mr Kambi were two of the cabinet secretaries who did not last the course, axed after being mentioned adversely in corruption probes. The former eventually navigated her way back to political alliance led by opposition chief Raila Odinga, and was elected Governor for Kitui at the last elections. 

With the appointments following the anti-corruption purge that felled Mrs Ngilu, Mr Kambi and three other cabinet secretaries, as well as other reshuffles that necessitated replacement, the policy of appointing technocrats was quietly dropped and priority moved to politicians. 

In came figures such as close Ruto ally Charles Keter, who left the Belgut Senatorial seat to take charge of Energy ministry; and former Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri to replace the disgraced Anne Waiguru in the Devolution ministry was seen to placate parts of President Kenyatta’s Central Kenya backyard. 

There was also Ford Kenya leader Eugene Wamalwa at Water and Irrigation, who became not just a token Luhya representative in the Cabinet, but also presented hope that the populous community would have a prospect in Mr Ruto’s 2022 Jubilee line-up. 

LOYALISTS
There was also reward for MPs defecting from opposition ranks, Mr Dan Kazungu coming in as Cabinet Secretary for Mining and Gen Joseph Nkaissery, since deceased, getting the crucial Interior docket. 
The new 2018 cabinet reflects the same pattern of politicians or political loyalists dominating.

That should not be surprising considering that during the 2017 election campaigns, all cabinet secretaries, including the technocrats, were required to virtually abandon their offices and go out on the Jubilee campaign trail in their respective “home” counties.

The emphasis on appointing politicians was clearly illustrated when President got around the abolishment of Assistant Minister offices in the Constitution by creating new post of Chief Administrative Officer in each ministry. Nearly all the posts went not to technocrats or career civil servants, but to politicians being rewarded for the contributions to the Jubilee campaign.

Creation of the new offices is bound to raise controversy, and could well attract legal challenges.     

Meanwhile, a cursory look at the new cabinet indicates that most of those dropped are not only the ones who might have had little impact in their ministerial functions, but those who brought Jubilee little or no political gain.

POLITICAL FALLOUT

This might explain why the likes of Ms Phyllis Kandie (Labour), Mr Hassan Wario (Sports) and Ms Judi Wakhungu (Environment) could easily be ejected without risk of political fallout.

It is also apparent most of the newcomers, with the exception of Margaret Kobia (Public Service, Youth and Gender), Keriako Tobiko (Environment) and Monica Juma (Foreign Affairs), are either politicians or protégés of powerful Jubilee politicians.

They include Jubilee Secretary-General and former Rarieda MP Raphael Tuju (CS without Portfolio), one of the leading Luo lights who has been consistent in resisting Raila Odinga’s domination of community leadership. Former Meru Governor Peter Munya (EAC and Northern Corridor Development) also seems to have been rewarded after abandoning a brief dalliance with the opposition and withdrawing an election court petition challenging the election of his gubernatorial poll conqueror Kiraitu Murungi.

Rewarded also on political considerations of former Marsabit Governor Ukur Yattani who gets the Labour docket.

Two of the most interesting newcomers are Mr Rashid Achesa at the Sports and National Heritage docket and Ms Farida Karoney at Land.

FRESH APPOINTMENTS

A political operative of decidedly modest education or track record in management, Mr Achesa is a former opposition youth activist who gained notoriety for rather overzealous approach to political confrontation.

Ms Karoney, the most senior woman in Kenyan media as Chief Operating Officer at Royal Media Services, is one of the most notable fresh appointments. Although not directly politically active, and coming from a giant media house that is viewed with suspicion by the Jubilee regime, she has in the past been seen as close to Deputy President William Ruto.

In that regard, she might well have been handed a poisoned chalice. Land is one of the most sensitive dockets with the chronic inefficiency and corruption at Ardhi House, the mess on land records, and unresolved historical grievances of land ownership and settlement.

What might put her in the spotlight, however, is how she navigates the perpetual problem of land grabbing.

 [email protected]. @MachariaGaitho