Focus on Parliament as vetting of Ruto's Cabinet nominees begins

Interior Cabinet Secretary nominee Kithure Kindiki at a press briefing at Harambee House in Nairobi on June 24, 2024. [Edward Kiplimo,Standard]

Parliament faces an acid test from next week as it starts vetting President Ruto's Cabinet nominees.

The National Assembly will, from Thursday next week, put the 20 nominees through grilling to determine their suitability for the offices they have been nominated to. 

Focus now shifts to the MPs who will vet 'an already-objected-to Cabinet' by the citizenry. This comes as opposition figures were appointed into the Kenya Kwanza administration by President Ruto. 

The National Assembly Committee on Appointments chaired by Speaker Moses Wetang'ula will be undertaking the exercise expected to encompass a balance between appeasing the political class and doing what is right for Kenyans. 

A schedule released by Parliament shows the vetting will take four days with at least five nominees being vetted every day, between Thursday, August 1 and Sunday, August 4. This will be at the Mini-Chambers, County Hall, and Parliament Buildings. 

Interior nominee Kithure Kindiki will be the first off the blocks, appearing before the team on Thursday, August 1. Prof Kindiki, under whose tenure forced disappearances and abductions made a comeback, will have the task of convincing the House team that he should be reinstated. Kindiki, a professor of law, was also grappling with banditry before the Cabinet was fired.

Health nominee Debra Mlongo Barasa will follow at 10 am, while Lands and Urban Housing nominee Alice Wahome will come in at noon. Education nominee Julius Migos Ogamba will be vetted at 3 pm and Defense's Roselinda Soipan Tuya at 5 pm. Tuya is expected to demonstrate her suitability to ensure Kenya's Defense is indomitable at all times. 

On Friday, August 2, 2024, a newcomer to Cabinet, Agriculture nominee Andrew Mwihia Karanja, will be vetted at 8 am, followed by Environment nominee Aden Duale at 10 am.

Duale, who served as Defense CS in the previous Cabinet, will confront allegations of his overbearing nature as well as questions about his patriotism and ties to a neighbouring country during the 10 am vetting. Water and Irrigation nominee Eric Muriithi Muuga will be vetted at noon on the same day.

It will however be an interesting encounter for Roads and Transport nominee Davis Chirchir who, during his tenure at the Energy docket, skipped sermons by parliamentary oversight committees. He will be appearing at 3 pm. Information, Communication and the Digital Economy nominee Margaret Nyambura Ndung’u will be vetted at 5 pm. 

On Saturday, August 3, Nominated MP John Mbadi, who once likened Ruto's administration to a skunk, will be the first to be vetted as he seeks to join the same administration he once criticised. The Treasury nominee will appear at 8 am, followed by Investments, Trade & Industry nominee Salim Mvurya Mgala at 10 am. Tourism and Wildlife nominee Rebecca Miano will be vetted at 12. Ruto made a last-minute decision to transfer her from the AG's position.

National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi, nominated to the Energy and Petroleum docket, will be vetted at 3 pm, followed by Kipchumba Murkomen, the nominee for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy & Sports docket, at 5 pm.

Murkomen, whose stint as the former Transport CS was dotted by controversies including his extravagant lifestyle at a time Kenyans were struggling economically, the alleged "eternal" leasing out of JKIA airport to a foreign company and the insensitivity he visited on a job seeker at the NTSA offices, will have the heavy task of convincing the House he is a changed man and one befitting public appointment.

On Sunday, August 4, Mining and Blue Economy nominee Hassan Ali Joho will start off the vetting process at 8 am, followed by Labour and Social Protection nominee Alfred Mutua at 10 am. Wycliffe Oparanya, the Cooperatives CS nominee, will come in at noon. Oparanya is expected to battle graft-related claims after the anti-corruption agency, last year, raided his house as part of what they claimed was an investigation into alleged embezzlement of Sh1.3 billion. 

Former AG nominee Justin Muturi,  nominated to the Public Service & Human Capital Development docket, will be grilled at 3 pm, while Gender, Culture, The Arts & Heritage nominee  Stella Soi Lang’at will be the last to be vetted at 5 pm.