Matiang'i takes charge of weekly Cabinet meetings

President Uhuru Kenyatta has delegated the role of chairing weekly Cabinet meetings to Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i.

Although the President is getting daily briefs on all matters involving the Cabinet from Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, he only chairs full Cabinet meetings when a major item is on the agenda.

"The Cabinet meetings [are held] weekly under Matiang'i to assess the implementation of all government agendas. The President only chairs the meeting when there is a major issue like the budget or a crisis," a Cabinet Secretary confided to the Star.

Mating'i is regarded as the can-do 'super-minister' and some observers say his elevation to oversee national projects is meant to sideline Deputy President William Ruto who likes to launch projects.

Most government business is now transacted through Cabinet subcommittees which meet regularly and report to Matiang'i.

In January this year, Uhuru appointed Matiang’i as chairman of the National Development Implementation and Communication Cabinet Committee.

Part of the committee mandate is to provide supervisory leadership throughout the delivery cycle of all national government programmes and projects.

However, Article 153 of the Constitution makes Cabinet Secretaries accountable to the president.

“Cabinet secretaries are accountable individually, and collectively, to the president for the exercise of their power and the performance of their functions,” Article 153 (2) states.

There has been speculation that the Cabinet could be split because of the differences between the head of state and his DP Ruto.

The DP's allies have also gone on the offensive, demanding a purge on CSs believed to be anti-Ruto.

However, the President has remained silent as there are fears that the infighting could hamper or stall service delivery.

On Monday, the tension between Ruto and Industrialisation CS Peter Munya was clearly visible during the official opening of the Kenya Trade Week at the KICC. Munya folded his arms across his chest and frowned.

Ruto has accused Munya and three other CSs — Sicily Kariuki, James Macharia and Joe Mucheru — of clandestinely planning his murder.

On Tuesday State House spokesperson Kanze Dena-Mararo said there is no regular Thursday Cabinet meeting scheduled for tomorrow, as had been the norm. 

According to Dena, the reason why President Kenyatta is yet to call a meeting is that there is no major business to be deliberated.

“Cabinet meetings are convened with a reason. There has been none so far and once there are [reasons], a Cabinet sitting will be convened. As of now, no Cabinet meeting is scheduled for Thursday (tomorrow) but if one is called, we will let you know,” she told journalists at State House.

Kanze dismissed as mere speculations talk of divisions in the Cabinet.

Traditionally, the President is expected to chair the Cabinet every Thursday to deliberate on pressing government issues like food security and take a common position on matters of national interest.

Currently, there is the issue of the imminent national census, divisions on whether to import maize or not, the expected rollout of Universal Health Care and the Kenya-Somalia maritime boundary row.

The Star has established that the last meeting the President chaired was on June 13, where the Cabinet, in a special session, approved the budget estimates for the 2019-20 financial year.

Ministers who served in the Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki administrations were on Tuesday unanimous that the Thursday Cabinet sittings were mandatory.

“We used to meet regularly and during my term, we never lacked an agenda to discuss,” Franklin Bett, former Roads minister and the longest-serving State House Controller, said of the Moi government.

Bett said Moi religiously chaired the Cabinet every Thursday throughout the year, except when he was out of the country.

He said, however, that Uhuru could have changed tact, with Matiangi’s team doing the bulk of the work.

Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o who served as minister for Health during the Grand Coalition Government, said the number of times a Cabinet can meet depends on the regime of the day.

During the Grand Coalition Government, Nyong’o said they would meet as often as possible.

“I may not have the scientific way to tell what is going on at the moment. Every government has its own culture,” Nyong'o said.

Kisii Senator Prof Sam Ongeri who served in Cabinet during the Moi and Kibaki regimes also recalls that they religiously met every Thursday. 

But Ongeri was quick defending Uhuru, saying, “We had a lot of business to discuss. Remember those days ministers were also members of Parliament and therefore a lot of issues were being raised on the floor of the House which we would then take them for discussion in Cabinet.”

Former Eldama Ravine MP Moses Sirma, who also served as the minister for the East Africa Community during the Grand Coalition Government, said the lull could be a result of changes in government structure and the politicking government officials.

He said it appears that Cabinet subcommittees are dead and as a result, no one is generating policy papers for discussion in the Cabinet.

“Some committees could be dead and that is why the President had appointed Matiang'i to lead Css in ensuring development is rolled out,” Sirma said.

“During my time, we would meet every Thursday unless there were special reasons. Ministers were keen taking notes in what the MPs were raising in the House then they would proceed to produce policies from them that would be tabled in Cabinet. Now it is a different structure altogether,” he added.

Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi said while it was the constitutional mandate for the head of state to call Cabinet meetings, “it is long overdue for one as there are urgent issues to be discussed.

“It is public knowledge that there are differences in Cabinet. A section of Css are into succession politics, planning on how to eliminate others, and this should be one of the issues the President should address in Cabinet,” he told the Star on phone.

“We have a maize crisis that has been created by his officials saying different things on whether to import or not. The Big Four agenda and the unity of the country should be Uhuru's reason to call weekly Cabinet meetings,” he added.

Sudi also noted that the merger of the Regular Police and the Administration Police, the arming of private security guards and the high coast of living should also be disused in the Cabinet.