Ruto created seven new state departments bringing the number of
PSs to about 58 — the highest since
the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution — and coming at a time
of hue and cry about the country’s
wage bill.
Ruto has been working with 51 PSs In the changes announced on Thursday, Ruto has reassigned PS Geoffrey Kaituko (Shipping and Maritime) and Peter Tum (Sports).
Also affected are James Muhati
(Economic Planning), Abdi Fidhow
(EAC), Abubakar Hassan (Investment Promotion), Alfred K’Ombudo (Trade), Edward Kisiang’ani (Broadcasting) and Amos Gathecha
(Public Service).
Kisiang’ani has been named senior advisor and member of the
President’s Council of Economic
Advisors while Tum now heads to
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of
Congo as the country’s ambassador.
K’Ombudo has been named the
new deputy head of mission Brussels in Belgium while Muhati heads
to Guangzhou, People’s Republic of
China as the Consul-General.
Kaituko is the country’s new
Deputy Head of Mission in Rome,
Italy.
In making the changes, Head of
Public Service Felix Koskei said the
shifts were necessitated by need
to harness the opportunities with
emerging sectors of the economy, as
well as address challenges affecting
Kenya’s social fabric.
“Collectively, the changes seek to
further accelerate the implementation of the administration’s seminal
socio-economic blue-print, the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation
Agenda (Beta),” Koskei said in the dispatch.
PSs are accounting officers of their state departments and
ministries and are considered technocrats in their respective fields.
The President brought in new faces, a majority of them well-known
allies of Raila, which exposed the
opposition chief as the new center
of power in the Kenya Kwanza regime.
Among those appointed include
former senator and ODM election
board chairperson Judith Pareno.
Pareno has been appointed to the
Office of the head of Justice, Human Rights and Constitutional —
a new department in the state law
office.
Raila’s long-term youth leader
at the Coast Fikirini Jacobs, was
picked as PS for Affairs in the Ministry of Youths and Sports.
He replaces Ismail Madey who
has been moved to the new department of special programmes in the
Ministry of Public Service.
Also linked to Raila is Carren
Achieng who was picked as Children Welfare Service PS, a new department in the Ministry of Labour
and Social Protection.
The President appointed Michael
Lenasalon as Devolution PS to replace Teresiah Mbaika, who was
moved to the Ministry of Roads in
the same capacity.
Former KMPDU secretary general Ouma Oluga has been picked as
the new Medical Service PS, replacing Harry Kimtai, who has been
moved to the Ministry of Mining in
the same capacity.
Former Nyeri deputy governor
Carolyne Karugu has been picked
EACC PS replacing Abdi Fidhow
who was appointed as Consul-General, Arusha United Republic of
Tanzania.
Also linked to Raila is Regina
Ombam, who replaced K’Ombudo
as Trade PS. K’Ombundo has been
picked as the new Deputy Head of
Mission in Brussels.
Bonface Makokha replaces
James Muhati as Economic Planning PS. Muhati has been picked
as the Consul-General Guangzhou,
People’s Republic of China.
The President also split the departments in the Ministry of Education.
He created a new department
for Science, Research and Innovation and appointed Abdulrazak
Shaukat as the PS.
Former Wajir North MP Ahmed
Abdisalan Ibrahim has been picked
as the PS, Department of National
Government Coordination in the
office of Prime Cabinet Secretary.
Stephen Isaboke is the Broadcasting and Telecommunications PS, replacing Kisiangani.
The changes are coming at a time
Raila’s influence has been growing
since his failed bid at the African
Union Commission chair in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia.
Raila’s private office at Capitol
Hill Square in Nairobi, has been a
beehive of activities with delegation including those seeking government
appointments queuing to have a
word with him.
Apart from increased political activities at Capitol Hill Square, Raila
has also attended two high-profile engagements at State House
where he speaks last before inviting
the President to make an address
demonstrating his soaring influence.
On Tuesday, the veteran opposition chief attended a state banquet
for a visiting royal family and sat
after Deputy President Kithure Kindiki.
The following day, Raila was at
State House with Ruto and spoke
before inviting the President during
the occasion to award charter to Riara University.
Ordinarily, Raila with no official position in government is an
outsider in government and should
not speak after senior government
officials.
Yesterday, Raila met his ‘experts’
in the broad-based government, the first ever meeting since they were incorporated into the Kenya Kwanza
government.
“I met our experts in the broad based coalition together with our
parliamentary leadership to consult
on national and emerging issues,”
Raila said after the meeting.
Present during the meeting were
Cabinet secretaries John Mbadi
(Treasury), Opiyo Wandayi (Energy), Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives), Hassan Joho (Blue Economy)
and Beatrice Askul (EAC).
Also present were National
Assembly Minority leader Junet
Mohamed, his Senate counterpart
Stewart Madzayo and Kenya Revenue Authority chairperson Ndiritu
Muriithi.
Sources who were part of the
meeting denied it was all about the
expected changes in government
saying they were being briefed on
the MoU with the President.
“We were just touching base; we
have never met him since our appointments. The other time we met
as party officials, the likes of Askul
and Muriithi were not there,” the
source told the Star.
“He was briefing us on the progress they have made in terms of
Memorandum of Understanding
with the President and also getting
our views on the progress the government is making,” another source
added.
