D-Day for five CS nominees as they face vetting team

Former Environment CS Soipan Tuya when she appeared before the Senate on July 10, 2024. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

The vetting of President William Ruto's Cabinet Secretaries nominees is set to commence Thursday.

Interior Cabinet Secretary nominee Prof Kithure Kindiki will be the first to appear at 8am before the Vetting Committee chaired by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula.

Kindiki will be seeking to convince the committee to give him a second chance to serve in the same position which President Ruto had appointed him to serve in September 2022 until the Cabinet was dismissed two weeks ago.

The CS nominee who hails from Tharaka Nithi county is an ally of the President having served in his legal team when he appeared before the International Criminal Court at The Hague facing crimes against humanity charges.

When it was time for Ruto to determine who will be his running mate Kindiki was the first among equals with majority of legislators from the Mount Kenya region said to have preferred him to be the chosen one but Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua carried the day.

“I do not have a diary but I am on call 24 hours a day to ensure that the country is safe, I will work with all stakeholders to ensure the country is secure, I have the full blessings of President William Ruto to deal ruthlessly with those out to cause insecurity in the country,” said the CS nominee.

When Kindiki faces the panel, he will be confronted with issues arising from the conduct of security personnel during the Gen Z protests which resulted in the killing of over 50  youths, forced disappearance and abduction and maiming of protestors whose whereabouts are not known to date.

He will be put to task over his declaration that the government has not issued a shoot-to-kill order to control crowds in the country and has a zero-tolerance policy towards extrajudicial killings but the police have been accused of using excessive force when handling demonstrators.

“I would like to inform the country at large that the police do not have shoot to kill order when handling crowds, we are investigating all incidents where it is alleged that police used excess force to find out if it is police or civilian guns used and action taken,” said Kindiki.

He is likely to leverage the crackdown on bandits and cattle rustlers in the Turkana, West Pokot, Baringo, Laikipia, Elgeyo Marakwet and Samburu counties as one of his achievements in the last 20 months that he served as Interior CS.

Last year he informed Parliament that the government had set aside Sh 20 billion for modernisation of equipment in the police force so as to ensure that they are well equipped to handle internal security issues in the country.

Health Cabinet Secretary nominee Dr Debra Barasa, Alice Wahome (Lands), Julius Ogamba (Education) and Soipan Tuya (Defence) will also face the Vetting Committee on Thursday.

 Dr Barasa who will be the second CS nominee to face the vetting panel will be put to task over how she will resolve the myriad challenges in the health sector which has seen doctors, nurses, clinical officers and medical Interns go on strike.

The medical doctor specializing in Internal medicine and infectious diseases with over 15 years’ experience was in the spotlight after she hurriedly paid Sh80,050 to settle a debt owed to the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council which had led to her removal from the list of medical practitioners on the day President Ruto announced her nomination.

Former Health CS Susan Nakhumicha faced backlash on how she handled the medics strikes which paralysed the health sector..

Wahome is expected to convince the vetting committee why she should be given another chance to serve in the same docket where she was transferred to after initially being appointed as Water Cabinet Secretary by President Ruto in September 2022.

The Lands CS nominee had been elected to serve as Kandara MP for a third term in August 2022 but resigned to join the Cabinet and was later transferred from the Water Ministry when she was embroiled in a row with Principal Secretary Kiprono Ronoh.

Wahome may be required to shed light over a battle to control billions of shillings at Athi Water Works Development Agency that escalated into a vicious boardroom fight leading to her transfer to the Lands docket.

“May I take this opportunity to thank the President of the Republic of Kenya for the appointment as The Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development, Twende Kazi,” said Wahome when she was nominated.

Ogamba who is an Advocate with over 30 years’ experience in private practice and is currently serving as the Chairman of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company(KenGen) will be facing questions on how he plans to handle the challenges in the education sector.

If approved Ogamba will be taking over from Ezekiel Machogu whom he was to deputise as Kisii governor on a UDA ticket but they lost the election to  Governor Simba Arati.

He will be expected to tell the country how he will ensure the Competence Based Curriculum is fully implemented and also address the crisis in the universities where Kenyans have raised concerns over huge fee increments.

Soipan will be facing the vetting panel for the Defence docket having previously served as Environment Cabinet Secretary before the cabinet was dissolved and will be out to convince the committee on why she should be given another chance.

The Defence Cabinet Secretary nominee previously served as Narok County MP for two terms since 2013 and resigned as a Nominated Senator in September 2022 when the President appointed her to the Cabinet.

Soipan will face questions over how millions of shillings were used during the national tree planting exercise where top government officials were hoping from one county to another.

She boasts of milestones including successfully hosting the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in September last year; reform of various laws and policies including the Climate Change Act; and acceleration of tree-growing ecosystem restoration activities in the country leading to the national tree growing day, the ‘green holiday’.

“In the forestry sector, we initiated and are implementing a wide array of targeted reforms aimed at dealing decisively with runaway illegalities in our forests and protection of our country’s critical water towers that include the passage of the first-ever forest policy for Kenya and the recruitment of 2,664 forest rangers, the highest single cohort entry in the history of Kenya,” said Soipan.