Jump to navigation

Kenya

Uhuru reshuffles and grows the government

The unwieldy coalition in Nairobi is going from big tent to bloated tent

When President Uhuru Kenyatta shuffled and expanded his pack of ministers on Thursday (19 February) it was his 'handshake' partners, Orange Democratic Movement party leader Raila Odinga and his Wiper counterpart Kalonzo Musyoka, who benefited most. There was more patronage for the newish allies but no sackings.

The changes, which cover political appointees at chief administrative secretary (CAS) and top officials at principal secretary (PS) level, have seen eight new entrants to the executive line-up – all pro-Handshake allies.

Created by Kenyatta in 2018, partly as a means to reward political allies who failed to get elected at the 2017 elections, the CAS post functions as an assistant minister and ranks below the cabinet minister. CAS appointees do not need parliamentary approval.

The highest profile of the new names is David Osianyi, close to Odinga, who has been appointed chief administrative secretary in the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and Enterprise Development.

The President on Friday said that no official had been sacked. But allies of Deputy President William Ruto may see their power diluted ahead of the 2022 general elections (AC Vol 61 No 14, A big tent for Moi's children). Ministers nominated by Ruto will now have hostile understudies loyal to Odinga or Musyoka.

Labour and Social Protection CAS and former Narok West MP Patrick Ole Ntutu, for example, one of Ruto's supporters in government, remains in office but with much reduced responsibilities.

Some complain the new CAS's will simply be used to spearhead political campaigning ahead of the 2022 polls.

Kenyatta's allies insist all the new appointees will be focused on implementing the President's 'Big Four' legacy agenda of delivering universal healthcare, half-a-million affordable houses, food security and increased manufacturing.



Related Articles

A big tent for Moi's children

The President's attempts to co-opt oppositionists has reunited young Turks promoted by the late President Moi

Thirty years after the Saba Saba protests triggered the battle for the restoration of multiparty politics in Kenya, veterans of that struggle might be troubled to see that...


KANU at war

Self-declared politics professor President Daniel arap Moi is trying to bring his ruling Kenya African National Union to order before its 8 October conference at Kasarani to nominate...


Ruto's plan to profit from the ports hits problems

The government aims to raise quick cash from privatising state assets but opposition is mounting

The radical plans to purge the political elite and its economic projects after William Ruto's presidential election victory last year are running out of steam. In some places...


How the fighting spread

A report shows how politicians, administrators and churchmen fostered the post-election slaughter and calls for their prosecution

The state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has produced a well researched but politically explosive report which links six government ministers to the violence that followed this...


By Skype from The Hague

Kenya’s first presidential debate, broadcast live on eight television and 34 radio stations on 11 February, was unlikely to sway an electorate deeply polarised by ethnic and regional...