•A total of 240 candidates from more than 4,000 who applied were shortlisted.
•Opposition has bashed Ruto for creating positions, despite the fact that he rejected the Building Bridges Initiative
Image: FAITH MATETE
The opposition has rejected the creation of the Chief Administrative Secretary position.
Azimio la Umoja One Coalition on Wednesday said it remains opposed to efforts to expand the executive further and create an excessive bureaucracy that will add no value to the lives of our people.
"Indeed, we are concerned that the government has grown too large, too bureaucratic, too wasteful, too unresponsive, and too uncaring about people and their problems," reads the statement by Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi in part.
The statement came on the very day the Public Service Commission (PSC) began a five-day exercise of interviewing candidates for the CAS positions.
A total of 240 candidates from more than 4,000 who applied were shortlisted.
They are all squaring off for the 22 available slots.
Wandayi expressed concerns about how the Kenya Kwanza regime is proceeding with its plans to recruit tens of Cabinet Assistant Secretaries and expansion of the executive.
"Azimio is alarmed that despite the prevailing difficult economic times that require a rethink and re-organization of government spending priorities, the Kenya Kwanza regime is proceeding with its plans of expanding the executive," he said.
Azimio has bashed President William Ruto for creating positions, despite the fact that he rejected the Building Bridges Initiative.
Wandayi noted that Ruto who campaigned against the BBI on grounds that it was meant to create positions is now busy creating positions that will add no value whatsoever to service delivery and steering the country in the right direction.
"We reject this total waste of resources, time, and misuse of the Public Service Commission," he added.
Azimio further accused Ruto of appointing a horde of Cabinet Secretaries and a host of Principal Secretaries through the creation of departments and agencies to accommodate friends and failed associates including political rejects.
Through the CAS position, the opposition claims that it will be a new layer of bureaucracy which will come with another set of offices, staff, per diems, salaries, and equipment including fuel guzzlers that will consume another set of billions of money from over-taxed and suffering Kenyans with no tangible returns.
"As a party, we remain opposed to efforts to expand the executive further and create an excessive bureaucracy that will add no value to the lives of our people," Wandayi said.
He noted that at the moment, the government would have focused on making sure that every available shilling is directed at lowering the cost of basic goods such as unga, electricity, and fuel.
The money should also be directed to financing basic education, providing water and hay to drought-stricken communities, saving collapsing public universities, and addressing the problem of insecurity.
As a result, Azimio condemned Kenya Kwanza’s acts of insensitivity and uncaring attitude
The attitude according to Azimio is making Kenyans feel burdened and oppressed by a government that is growing too large and too wasteful while delivering so little.
"What Kenya Kwanza is doing is wrong, misplaced and insensitive," Wandayi added.