On Tuesday this week, the country was treated to a very interesting scenario whereby some Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and heads of parastatals, were locked out of State House for arriving late for the signing of performance contracts between them and the head of state.
The function was slated for 9am and the President was already seated by that time. Tuesday, August 1, therefore, couldn’t have been a better timing for such a ceremony coming after the Kenya Kwanza administration was able to implement its first budget by disbursing the first quarter tranche of the county governments equitable share and also the NG-CDF in full.
This is unheard off for the last seven budgets, that such funds are released in time. KRA has also met its target of Sh2.1 trillion in a very long time.
I have participated in the making of political parties’ manifestos since 2007, and I can attest to the fact that ‘The Plan’ is to me the most superior, well thought out blueprint of our modern Kenyan state.
Through its five pillars of agriculture, healthcare, micro, small and medium enterprise, housing and settlement and the digital superhighway and the creative economy, the manifesto aims at transforming a rather dilapidated economy that was on the edge of the precipice, in a post-Covid, post-electioneering period.
The aim is to reclaim Kenya’s position as the undisputed powerhouse in East Africa, and also as the third largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, we have slid to position five according to the latest rankings by the Brettonwoods institutions.
Using the approach of the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda, there are gains already in terms of food production subsidy through affordable fertiliser at Sh2,500, liberalisation of the milk industry, zero rating of certain critical farming inputs and the centralisation of revenue collection to one government Paybill number.
However, a lot remains to be done considering that a government takes at least 24 months to settle. The KK administration is nearing its one year mark by September 13, when President Ruto was sworn into office. This government was for all intents and purposes a peasant (hustler nation) revolution that swept the old guard out of power.
This is symbolised by the two handshake brothers, Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, whose families have had a major stake both in government, opposition and in matters economy since independence, since their fathers were Kenya’s founding president and vice president respectively. A lot of the current office holders thus haven’t been in government long enough, and the last nine months have been a learning curve for ministers and PSs, most of who are relatively young.
President Ruto is a great visionary, a workaholic and stickler to time. He has quickly risen to become an authentic African voice at the international level, and a champion for climate change. He thus read the riot act to CSs and PSs, noting that they are supposed to advise him, yet more often than not, he has more information about their ministries and state departments than some of them.
Ruto advised them to ‘read’ the many briefs that they get, since if one isn’t on top of things, then they don't deserve to be in their current positions.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was even more forthright, warning that some CSs are travelling way too many times, making Cabinet committees to lack quorum. He also chided them that they are shy to face the media to articulate various government programmes.
Recently, newspapers have carried stories of ministers not showing up for question time in Parliament. Further, MPs have openly complained that ministers aren’t available to either see them or receive their phone-calls.
CSs on their part are reeling from very many responsibilities, including attending to Cabinet matters, overseeing their ministries, attending to international engagements and also having to appear before the main plenary and various committees of the Senate, the National Assembly, and dealing with counties, yet they are only 22 as provided for in the constitution.
PSs have to run their state departments on a daily basis since they are the accounting and authorising officers, which means that they are in charge of the administration, financial and human resource functions of their state departments. It’s basically a lot of desk work.
As President Ruto had correctly foreseen, there is a dire need for Chief Administrative Secretaries who are techno-political, to assist the CSs in executing their duties.
Even in the US, there are assistant secretaries as well (remember Johnnie Carson and Jendayi Frazer). CASs will thus attend to Parliament, engage stakeholders including counties and help articulate the government programmes and agenda to the public. This is thus the missing cog in the effective implementation of 'The Plan' and running of government.
There is lot of great talent and experience amongst those who were appointed to this position in March, since a good number of them are former PSs, senators, MPs, governors, deputy governors, CEOs, provincial administrators and security chiefs etc. These men and women thus have the requisite skills that are highly needed for the government agenda to succeed.
‘Responsibility is the essential test of worthiness’.
