Ruto’s ‘Nusu Mkate’ Falls Short of Expectations

President William Ruto Friday announced his nominees to fill half of his new Cabinet since dismissing his entire 2022 Cabinet last week after intensified demonstrations against high taxes and corruption in his government.

While addressing the media before disbanding the Cabinet, save for Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi who was later designated the acting CS for all ministries through a Gazette Notice, Ruto had promised Kenyans he would form a broad based Cabinet after a wider consultations with all stakeholders.

But the Cabinet he announced Friday at Statehouse did not pass the test on some of the demands raised by Kenyans, especially Gen Z. Many interviewed for this story said they expected a Cabinet of competent Kenyans who could stand the test of Chapter Six of the Constitution on Integrity and Leadership.

Not many expected Ruto would recycle any of the CSs who had been dismissed because of incompetence. Prof. Kithure Kindika, the CS nominee for Interior had been accused by Kenyans for keeping quiet and watching when Kenyans were being shot and killed by the police without him giving any policy statement from the ministry. His Defence counterpart, Aden Barre Duale,  had also failed the nation by failing to respect the Constitution on the deployment of the Kenya Defence Forces internally to combat protestors. Duale is on record having sanctioned the deployment of the KDF though a night Gazette Notice before it was retroactively approved by the National Assembly.

In another instance, President Ruto appointed a lawyer and close ally of outgoing CS for Education, Ezekiel Machogu as the nominee for Education. The nominee, Julius Migosi, was Machogu’s running mate at the 2022 gubernatorial election in Kisii County, which they lost. He had lately been working at KENGEN as Chairman.

During the demonstrations, Gen Z demanded a Cabinet of qualified personnel in ministries and Kenya is not short of qualified individuals. For instance  Prof. Laban Ayiro, Vice Chancellor at Daystar University, is as one of Kenya’s best education managers with a proven track record and can run the Ministry of Education competently. The same applies to Prof. Olive Mugenda, a  former VC Kenyatta University; Dr Patrick Amoth and Dr Mercy Mwangangi lead the pack pf competent professionals to run the Ministry of Health.

Instead of Kindiki, Ruto had the option of trying former Coast Regional Commissioner Nelson Marwa or former Dagoretti Subcounty Commissioner Tom Anjere due to their vast experience in security matters and the provincial administration.

In the corruption-rich Roads and Transport ministry, it was expected that Ruto would go for an  engineer with vast experience other than moving the former Energy CS Davis Chirichir whose past is tainted having been fired as a CS by former president Uhuru Kenyatta because of corruption,

At the State Law Offices, On the state law office many Kenyans are surprised Rebecca Miano was nominated. Many had expected the likes of prominent lawyer Kioko Kilokumi to be nominated. The new faces in the cabinet unveiled seems to have the requisite qualifications but only time will tell as they head to Parliament for vetting. If Parliament yields to expected public pressure, some of the Ruto nominees may not be approved. The President also failed, in the half Cabinet, to project regional balance.