The appointment of permanent secretaries by President William Ruto has drawn mixed reaction from different quarters.
The appointment of so many PSs from one community is cause to worry. Kenyans know each other and one doesn’t not need to be rocket scientist to know from which community one comes from.
Chapter 9 Of the Kenya constitution on the Cabinet states that the President shall nominate for appointment as Principal Secretary from among persons recommended by the Public Service Commission and with approval of the National Assembly, appoint PS.
Further, Article 232 on the Public Service Commission describes the values and principles of public service, which includes representation of Kenya’s diverse communities, members of all ethnic groups, men and women and persons with disabilities in national and county governments and all state corporations.
Consequently, appointments to public office ought to reflect regional and ethnic diversity of the people of Kenya. Kenya has more than 43 communities spread all over the country. With the 51 appointment PS’ the President could have ensured that a least all 43 Kenyan communities get appointed.
Skewed public officers appointments seems to be the norm after every general elections.
In Nakuru, of the 10 county executives the governor appointed seven are from one community. The matter is in court and it is a worrying trend. After independence, the government fought poverty and ignorance. But successive governments in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and early 2000 have struggled with appointment of tribesmen and women without merit.
With exclusion or marginalisation of some communities in these appointments, they are deprived to showcase their ability to serve the nation and they have lost sense of belonging . Additionally, marginalization breeds ethnic tension .It’s not lost to the Kenyan populace that the1992, 1997 and 2007post elections violence was partly due to ethnic tensions and feeling that some communities have had so much of the national cake and other not.
During President Moi’s reign, there was a lot of appointment of public servants from one community. Corruption went on unchecked and many giant profit making state corporations collapsed with each passing day. For a minute, President Moi might be excused for his appointment of members from one community because there was no constitution speaking authoritatively on regional diversity.
However, President Ruto has no defence on why he is making many PS appointments from one community. The 2010 Constitution which he swore to uphold during his swearing on September 13 has clear guidelines on public service appointments.
President Ruto’s PS appointments are not healing the country after the hotly contested general election. If Ruto is genuine that he wants to grow the Kenyan economy, the perception that all Kenyan communities are involvement in public appointments is very important. Therefore, the president could have rallied the nation behind him by having fair distribution of the PS posts.
The President is making a costly blunder by rewarding several communities which voted overwhelmingly for him. He should understand that politicisation of ethnicity in Kenya to get power keeps on changing every general elections.
Subsequently, those celebrating because their communities have taken the larger PS cake should be worried of 2027. No one knows who takes power in 2027 and might also want to reward communities instead of loyalty to the constitution on public service appointments.
The presidency is a higher calling since he is the county’s head of state, government and symbol of national unity. Therefore he has is to serve all the people of Kenya whether they are from major or minor communities.
Rev. Canon. Dr. Martin Olando is the Principal, Bishop Hannington Institute of Theology, Mombasa.
