End of an era for Uhuru Principal Secretaries

Ruto PSs

From left: PS nominees Nixon Korir, Teresia Mbaika, Raymond Omollo, and Julius Bitok.

Photo credit: Nation Media Group

The reign of former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Principal Secretaries comes to an end today as those appointed by President William Ruto take over.

The new PSs will be sworn from 7am today at State House in Nairobi.

Out of Kenyatta’s 44 PSs, six have been retained.

Dr Belio Kipsang has made a comeback to the Ministry of Education after he was appointed PS Basic Education while Dr Chris Kiptoo has been moved to National Treasury from Environment and Forestry.

Mr Harry Kimutai has remained in the Livestock Development docket, same as Mr Charles Hinga in Housing and Urban Development. 

Others retained are Mr Julius Korir who has been named to the newly created State Department of Cabinet Affairs while former Kenya Medical Training College boss Peter Tum has been named PS for Medical Services.

The PSs will now join 22 Cabinet secretaries who have been in office for more than a month. 

The ceremony comes after the PSs were approved by the National Assembly following the end of their vetting by various departmental committees yesterday.

The mad rush saw a record 30 nominees vetted after National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula on Tuesday announced the resumption of the exercise.

This is after the High Court lifted an injunction that had stopped the process following a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) over the legality of the list compiled by the Public Service Commission. 

LSK argued that the nominations were unlawful and unconstitutional for failing to meet the two-thirds gender requirement as well as regional and tribal balance.

A total of 12 women will be sworn in today. They are Ms Teresia Malokwe (Devolution), Ms Esther Ngero (Performance and Delivery Management), Ms Aurelia Rono (Parliamentary Affairs), Ms Roseline Njogu (Diaspora Affairs), Ms Veronica Nduva (Gender and Affirmative Action), Ms Esther Muhoria (Tvet), Ms Ummi Bashir (Culture and Heritage), Dr Josephine Mburu (Health Standards and Professional Management), Ms Susan Mangeni (MSMEs Development), Ms Mary Muthoni (Correctional Services), Ms Beatrice Inyangala (Higher Education and Research) and Ms Sylvia Muhoro (Wildlife).

Principal Secretaries are usually involved in the coordination and implementation of government projects in State departments.

They also oversee the allocation of resources in the counties. They will earn Sh765,188 in gross monthly salary and the PSs will draw more money in housing, travel and entertainment allowances, medical cover and other perks.