Jostling for power rocks Jubilee in jobs row

By STANDARD TEAM

NAIROBI, KENYA: The Jubilee administration is locked in what appears to be supremacy struggle as power barons battle over control of key dockets across the new government.

The push and pull involves powerful people in the former coalition government against the new system and relationships continue to deteriorate as mistrust takes an upward trend.

In an exclusive interview with reliable sources at  State House, details of the cold war emanated from alleged isolation of powerful people who wielded power during the Kibaki administration.

Indeed, the relationship between some senior officers based at Harambee House with the team at State House has suffered strain to the extent that some power barons who served in the Kibaki government and who are still in the present government are said to be behind the opposition of the recent appointments made by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“We know the people who are strongly opposed to the appointments by the President are those who were powerful in the last grand coalition regime. The reason is simple, they simply can’t adapt to the new system of government,” said a source.

The situation became even more frozen when former Treasury permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua was appointed to be head of Public Service and to co-ordinate Cabinet affairs.

Kinyua worked closely with President Kenyatta when the latter was Deputy Prime Minister and minister for Finance under the Kibaki administration. Part of the reason the said power barons are vehemently but quietly fighting the President’s appointees is because Uhuru declined to adopt majority of the names the teams had fronted and had all along been pushing for consideration for appointment to key state parastatals.

 Caused ripples

Instead, the President is said to have worked with the list he personally prepared in consultations with his Deputy, William Ruto. The move by the President and his Deputy to independently pick names for appointments to various parastatals is said to have caused ripples in some quartres.

Contacted for comment, Director of Public Communications at State House, Munyori Buku, would not comment on the alleged disquiet within the Government except to say: “Positions in State corporations will no longer be a gravy train. The parastatals must give value to the people of Kenya who support them through the taxes they pay.

Those who have been used to appointments without merit are bound to resist and oppose the current reforms but the President and Deputy President will not be distracted,” he said. It is worth noting that President Uhuru, despite having a fully functional presidential office at Harambee House, has never visited the office since he became president in April last year.

Instead, he chose to operate from State House. In the previous government, people who would be appointed to various state corporations were a matter to be largely decided by the powerful close to the coalition partners.We also established that President Uhuru has on many occasions during his meetings with senior officers insisted that government officers must conform to his new style of leadership.

It is part of this internal disquiet that has caused confusion in the government so much so that Ruto has since admitted that the President has been misled by his advisors on matters regarding appointments.

In making the admission, Ruto said, “This should not have happened… we will be asking them very hard questions.”

This happens amid a controversial debate on the Standard Gauge Railway project that is estimated to cost the taxpayers in excess of Sh1.2 trillion.

The debate was sparked off by Nandi Hills legislator Alfred Keter who alleged that billions of taxpayers’ money is likely to be lost because the ‘cost of the project was exaggerated.’Uhuru dismissed the allegations in a function that Keter attended, saying his administration would not be coerced by politicians who have allegedly been compromised by disgruntled businessmen to push for their agenda.

Money lost

Keter had said: “I have equally raised concerns over the cost of building a one-kilometre railway which is 2 million dollars but they are proposing 6 million dollars meaning Kenyans will lose four million dollars per kilometer. The biggest undoing was not about the money involved in the process but the manner in which the whole process was done.”

“The tendering procedures are in law and it states clearly that any amount exceeding Sh500,000 must be subjected to a competitive tendering process which did not happen for this particular case,” he added.

Keter further said: “The Chinese government and our government are going into a government-government agreement which in procurement law is acceptable. But still, you cannot avoid the tendering issue, you must follow the procedures. The government should have allowed the competitive bidding process to continue while allowing Chinese contractors to compete because all of them are funded by the Chinese government.” Keter said he was forced to speak out because the inflated contract would further saddle the country with a huge fraudulent debts that will further impoverish the people.

“I am not against the construction of the railway line. I am supporting it because it will create employment and at the same time boost the economy, but other than that we must have value for our money. Let Kenyans have the best deal,” Keter said.