Six ministries - Mining, Trade, Education, Lands, Roads and Interior - will each have three Principal Secretaries.
The Prime Cabinet Secretary will have one state department -(Government Coordination) - and thus only one PS.
The Ministry of Defence will also have one PS for the State Department of Defence.
There will be another state department, which a circular from State House did not name or indicate where it will be placed.
All the other 14 ministries will each have two state departments.
Ruto will have 22 ministries, the maximum allowed by the 2010 Constitution, which sets the minimum number at 14.
The National Treasury and Economic Planning will have Finance and Economic Planning departments.
Foreign and Diaspora affairs will have the Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Affairs departments.
Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action has two departments.
Information, Communications and the Digital Economy has Broadcasting and Telecommunications, and ICT and the Digital Economy departments.
Health has Medical Services and Public Health departments. Agriculture and Livestock Development will house the Crop Development and Livestock Development departments.
Cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development has two departments.
Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts will have the Youth Affairs and Sports and the Arts departments. Environment and Forestry has two departments.
Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage has Tourism and Wildlife and Culture and Heritage departments.
Water, Sanitation and Irrigation (Water and Sanitation and Irrigation departments), Energy and Petroleum (Energy and Petroleum departments), Labour and Social Protection (Labour and Skills Development and Social Security and Protection departments).
East African Community, Arid and Semi-arid Lands and Regional Development (EAC Affairs and ASALs and Regional Development departments).
Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta had up to five PSs in some of the ministries.
The creation of a Prime Cabinet Secretary’s position has further seen the split of the powerful Ministry of Interior.
Ruto has rewarded ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi with the seat, which is the third rank in the executive.
This now means should the National Assembly okay the nomination of Kindiki Kithure, he will only be in charge of internal security and national administration as Mudavadi takes over that of government coordination.
The ministries of Agriculture and Infrastructure, which had five departments, have each been scaled down to three and renamed.
That of Infrastructure to be held by Senator Kipchumba Murkomen if approved by Parliament has been renamed Roads, Transport and Public works from Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development and Public Works.
Agriculture, which is the key focus of the Ruto administration in seeking to ensure the farmers reap maximum benefits to ensure prices of commodities are stabilised, has had Fisheries and Irrigation which acted as departments detached.
Education, which former politician Ezekiel Machogu has been nominated to head, is also affected by the changes.
The Curriculum Reforms and Implementation and Post-Training departments' mandates have also been shifted.
Their mandate will now be played by the Kenya Institute of curriculum Development and the TVET department respectively.
The ministry, which now has five state departments, has been downsized to three — Basic Education, TVET, and Higher Education and Research.
The respective departments will be headed by technocrats who are set to be appointed to various positions once the Public Service Commission concludes the shortlisting and interviewing process.
PSC will recommend a list of persons to the President, who will then pick his preferred names and forward them to Parliament for vetting and subsequent appointment.
Article 155 of the Constitution provides for the creation of the office of a PS who will be in charge of the administration of a state department.
Once appointed, the President may reassign the PS duties. As a principal secretary, the office holder is an authorised accounting officer of the whole ministry with specific roles of being answerable in the management of funds among others.
“The holder shall be responsible to the cabinet secretary in ensuring efficient and effective utilisation of financial, human and other resources in the department as well as submitting regular statutory reports,” read a notice from the PSC.
“Implementing government policies and the strategic plan and facilitating the achievement of the goals and objectives of government and Intergovernmental programs and projects."
The commission had on September 6 called for applications from suitable individuals.
Apart from meeting the regulations of Chapter Six on integrity, those seeking to be considered must poses a degree from a university recognised in Kenya.
The applicants must also have at least ten years of relevant professional experience, five years of which should have been in a leadership position or at a top management level in the public service or private sector.
PSC added that they should have general knowledge of the organisation and functions of government.
Defence ministry is the only one that remains unaffected by the changes.
The Ministry of Devolution has been removed from the new structure and will be under the office of the Deputy President.
During the previous administration, ASAL which was a department in the ministry has been moved to the new ministry of the East Africa Community.
Outgoing Defence CS Eugene Wamalwa has, however, since taken on the Ruto government for failing to appoint a CS in charge of it.
“I am at a loss as to what happens to devolution, is it an oversight or is it not a priority to this administration,” he wrote on his page when the new nominees were unveiled.
Ruto has also renamed the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining as Mining, the Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs.
According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem.
"It is estimated that the blue economy if used properly, has the potential to inject up to $4.8 billion into Kenya's economy and create more than 52,000 jobs in the next 10 years.
“Kenya is reviewing its national blue economy strategy to strengthen community structures in participatory management of fresh water, coastal and marine resources and ecosystems,” Ruto said in his address during the 77th UNGA session in New York.
Ministry of ICT has added the Digital Economy, which Kenya Kwanza has captured in its plan.
Kenya Kwanza plans to make Kenya an African digital hub with Ruto promising during his manifesto to lay 100,000 kilometers of internet fibre all over the country over five years.
Petroleum has been moved to the Energy ministry, which will have two state departments compared to only one in Uhuru’s administration.
Heritage, which has been under the Ministry of Sports as a department, will be now under the Tourism docket.
Gender and Affirmative Action has been introduced in the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender in a new structure as Youth Affairs, Sports and Arts being created as a new ministry.
In a bid to ensure his promise to support small businesses ‘hustlers’, Ruto will have an independent ministry called Cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development.
Health remains unaffected.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)
