About 20 influential bureaucrats will be at the centre of the handover of power from President Uhuru Kenyatta to the president-elect after next month's general election.
The committee has sweeping powers in transition, including providing intelligence briefs and organising the swearing-in ceremony.
Interestingly, top officials of the committee, known as Assumption of the Office of President Committee, do not see eye to eye with Deputy President William Ruto.
Ruto, the UDA candidate and Kenya Kwanza leader, and Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga are the front runners in the tightly fought August 9 polls.
Part of the mandate of the team, to be headed by Head of Civil Service Joseph Kinyua, is to ensure the president-elect receives security briefings from the national security organs, including the military and the National Intelligence Service.
The law requires the committee to make adequate plans for the transition that may necessitate meetings way before the polls.
However, the tough assignment begins immediately the IEBC declares the new president.
“Upon the declaration of the final results of a presidential election by the Commission...the Committee shall ensure that the President-elect and Deputy President-elect are accorded adequate security,” Assumption of Office of the President Act states.
However, questions abound whether powerful individuals would hand over power to Ruto.
Other members of the committee are Interior CS Fred Matiang'i, his PS Karanja Kibicho, Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai, Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces Robert Kibochi, Director General of the National Intelligence Service Philip Kameru, Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi and State House Comptroller Kinuthia Mbugua.
Also in the team are Attorney General Kihara Kariuki, ICT Principal Secretary Jerome Ochieng, Treasury PS Julius Muia, Foreign Affairs PS Macharia Kamau, Devolution's Julius Korir, Culture's Joe Okudo and Solicitor General Ken Ogeto.
Parliament will have two representatives, the Clerk of the National Assembly as well as the Clerk of the Senate, and CEO of the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee.
Once the committee is in place, the president-elect will be allowed to nominate three persons to represent him.
Part of the mandate of the committee is to organise the necessary facilities and personnel for the president-elect.
They should also co-ordinate the briefings for the president-elect by public officers and facilitate communication between the outgoing president and the president-elect.
However, most of the bureaucrats in the committee, mostly close allies of President Kenyatta, have fallen out with Ruto.
Some of the DP's allies have expressed their misgivings about composition of the team and whether it will be fair and, if he wins, whether the transition will be smooth.
Raila, who was at loggerheads with the system in his previous presidential runs, is now a darling of the state.
Last week, Ruto described Mutyambai as “the most incompetent Inspector General of Police in the whole world”.
Ruto claimed Uhuru, whom he described as “a competitor” in the election, is the de facto police boss.
“We have a serious problem with the command of the police. We have the most incompetent Inspector General of the Police," Ruto told poll observers.
"In fact, the current IG is the President of Kenya, who is the leader of Azimio."
But his attack drew a sharp response from Matiang'i who said the IG was being attacked for flatly rejecting inflated tenders for police contracts from Ruto's associates.
“His problem with Mutyambai, to tell you the truth, is refusing to buy police boots at Sh13,000 that were being sold by his friends, and instead bought them from local manufacturers at Sh2,900,”Matiang'i said.
He said Mutyambai also rejected a push to buy bulletproof vests from Ruto's associates.
Ruto has also had run-ins with Kibicho, whom he has accused of misusing the NIS.
Ruto's UDA party bitterly protested to the NIS complaints board last month, alleging what they termed misuse of the national security organ to advance Raila’s political interests.
Kibicho had claimed NIS reports showed Raila leading the presidential race at 60 per cent.
Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria told the Star on Tuesday Kenya Kwanza was concerned whether Uhuru would willingly hand over power to anyone except Raila.
He argued Kinyua is not fit to chair the Assumption of Office of the President Committee because he is not the substantive Secretary to the Cabinet.
“He was never vetted for the role unless they call us for a special sitting in Parliament to vet him so that he can chair the committee,” Kuria said. He argued the committee will do whatever Uhuru wants.
Kuria challenged Uhuru to declare he wouldn’t interfere with the transition process.
“It is important that Uhuru categorically says that he will hand over to William Ruto if Ruto wins. I don’t see those people in the committee but Uhuru Kenyatta who is not committed to hand over to Ruto,” he said.
By law, the committee should be chaired by the Secretary to the Cabinet but Kinyua says he is acting in that role.
Nominated MP David Sankok said that at the end of the day it is the power of the people that will count.
“The committee is just ensuring the sitting arrangement and that everything goes on well but the real handing over of power is through the sovereignty of the people,” he told the Star.
Former Transition Authority chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi said the individuals in the committee are obliged to act within the law.
“It is not the individual who matters. The individual may have a political colour but they are likely to find themselves in the office. The Act is blind on who would be in the office at what time,” Wamwangi said.
The transition process featured in Parliament last month when Garissa Township MP Aden Duale raised concerns that the position of Secretary to the Cabinet was vacant.
“The President did not appoint a replacement of Monica Juma (now Energy CS). This means the Assumption of Office of the President Committee, if constituted today, would not have a chairperson,” Duale said.
State House defended the status quo in a statement read by Judicial and Legal Affairs committee chairman Muturi Kigano. He said Kinyua was correctly placed to chair the committee.
“In the circumstances," Kigano said, "and in keeping with the precedent set in 2017 following the general elections and the subsequent repeat of the presidential election, the person currently performing the functions and duties of the Office of the Secretary to the Cabinet dutifully will chair the team."
(Edited by V. Graham)
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