Nakuru leaders lobby for Cabinet positions, plum state jobs

Leaders in Nakuru have intensified lobbying for Cabinet positions and other plum state jobs after President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua took the oath of office on Tuesday.

The politicians include Governor Susan Kihika, Senator Tabitha Karanja Keroche and local MPs allied to Kenya Kwanza.

A source privy to the pitches told the Nation on Monday that Nakuru could get one or two Cabinet posts, principal secretaries and other parastatal slots.

"Local leaders have been lobbying for at least one or two Cabinet slots. Nakuru would also land a number of PS positions besides other plum state jobs. Governor Susan Kihika is leading the lobbying," said the source, a close aide of the governor.

Nakuru, which has a significant influence in the country’s politics, has a dubious record of not landing senior government appointments.

For instance, the Jubilee Party, which brought together Uhuru Kenyatta and Dr Ruto, was launched at Afraha Stadium in 2013. It was also in Nakuru where the marriage between Kenya Kwanza affiliate parties was solemnised ahead of the 2022 General Election.

The only Cabinet minister it ever produced was Achieng’ Oneko, at independence.

But local leaders and technocrats have now intensified lobbying for Cabinet and principal secretary positions and other plum jobs, a day after the swearing-in of Dr Ruto and Mr Gachagua.

Nakuru leaders have appealed to President Ruto to consider technocrats from the region for top government jobs.

Although the leaders base their appeals on the need for the President to reward loyalty, gender and regional balance are also key planks in the lobbying.

Those eyeing appointments are also using covert and overt methods to ensure they catch the eye of the appointing authority.

Emissaries have been sent privately, whereas others have opted to showcase their loyalty and qualifications in the hope they will catch the President's eye.

Those from Nakuru being fronted for CS positions include Dr Peter Mbae, a close ally of Dr Ruto, Victor Ngatia, former Molo MP Jacob Macharia and Dr Waithanji Mutiti, a former chairman of the Nakuru County Public Service Board.

According to Mr Jesse Karanja, the chairman of Nakuru People's Power Watch, a lobby group, though Nakuru plays a crucial political role, on government appointments, other places like Kiambu, Nyeri, and Baringo benefit more.

“Nakuru has been in the cold for a long time and has never had a full Cabinet minister position,” Mr Karanja said.

“Even in the Uhuru Kenyatta regime, Nakuru received about three chief administrative secretaries and some parastatal appointments. Although we appreciated it, when will Nakuru have a Cabinet minister or two?"

Political analysts believe Nakuru was given a raw deal in appointments to plum state jobs because local leaders failed to lobby for a share of the national cake, despite the region’s political significance.

“In 2013, for example, Nakuru overwhelmingly voted for the Jubilee administration, producing more than one million votes, but it could not benefit from even a single Cabinet post,” lawyer and political analyst Steve Kabita told the Nation.

“The same happened in 2017. It seems Nakuru takes part in baking the cake, but others get bigger shares.”

Kuresoi South MP Joseph Tonui said Nakuru should be given a ‘reasonable’ share of the national cake in government appointments.

“Nakuru deserves a full Cabinet position or two. I am sure Dr Ruto will give Nakuru various slots in the executive," said Mr Tonui.

Joseph Kimani, a youth leader said: "We have always been treated as voting machines, only to be abandoned once regimes win elections.

“It happened in 2002, when Mwai Kibaki came to power, then again in 2013 and in 2017, we were more hopeful than before. But we received a rude shock. It is unimaginable that Nakuru has never had a Cabinet minister in the past three regimes.”

The Nation learnt yesterday that President Ruto had invited applications for the top jobs, as in 2013, when he and Mr Kenyatta asked technocrats to apply.

When founding President Jomo Kenyatta formed his government in 1963, he named Oneko, who had been elected Nakuru MP, minister for information, broadcasting and tourism, perhaps owing to his background as a pioneer journalist in the 1940s.

But Oneko later quit the Cabinet, resigned from Kanu and join Jaramogi Oginga Odinga’s Kenya People’s Union party.

In 1969, Oneko’s old comrade, Kenyatta, threw him into detention after deadly riots in Kisumu, where the President had gone to open Nyanza Provincial General Hospital, nicknamed ‘Russia’.

Nakuru has remained a political powerhouse since but was rarely considered in key government appointments.

But the county has produced some assistant ministers.

They included veteran politician and one-time information assistant minister Koigi Wa Wamwere and the late Mirugi Kariuki, an influential internal security assistant minister in the Mwai Kibaki government.

Others were Mark Mwithaga, who was an assistant minister in Mzee Kenyatta’s and Kibaki’s administrations, Ms Alicen Chelaite, an assistant minister for gender and social services in the Moi regime, and Lee Kinyanjui, was an assistant minister for roads in the Kibaki government.

During Moi’s regime, Nakuru was regarded as an opposition stronghold and therefore largely missed out on government appointments.

In the Uhuru Kenyatta era, some of Nakuru’s sons and daughters were appointed to senior government positions.

They included former chief administrative secretaries Nelson Gachuhie (Treasury) and Lawrence Karanja (Industrialisation), former Housing and Urban Development PS Charles Hinga Mwaura and outgoing State House Comptroller Kinuthia Mbugua.

In 2013, some Nakuru leaders complained that they had been neglected, but this received little attention from Mr Kenyatta.

Despite the protests, Cabinet positions went to other areas, with Nakuru receiving a handful of the appointments.

But this time around, Nakuru stands to benefit from more key government appointments, including in the Cabinet.

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