Uhuru Cabinet could not resist playing politics ahead of polls

Rangwe MP Lilian Gogo (R), Nyaribari Chache MP Richard Tongi, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe and his Interior counterpart Fred Matiangi in dance at Nyaura, Kisii County. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cabinet has muddled the line between government and politics.

First, it was to exert the government’s will in the drive to amend the Constitution, then support ODM leader Raila Odinga’s 2022 bid for State House.

Yet, from the outset, that was never meant to be the case.

President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto openly declared in 2013 that they would be the only politicians in the cabinet.

That was before they named former MPs Charity Ngilu, Mwangi Kiunjuri and Najib Balala to the cabinet.

In the days and years to come, Charles Keter, Dan Kazungu, Eugene Wamalwa, Peter Munya, John Munyes and Mutahi Kagwe have joined the pack.

But in a year when the coronavirus pandemic continued to hit the country’s economic plans, a section of members of the cabinet threw caution to the wind in what appeared like a coordinated strategy to use every tool of the government to prop up political campaigns.

No cabinet meetings

The differences between President Kenyatta and his deputy Ruto were apparent in the handful, or lack thereof, of cabinet meetings this year.

The line between government and politics has long been blurred.

Government events and meetings have turned into political meetings where cabinet secretaries play surrogates to politicians.

The mood in the cabinet has reflected the mood in the country — split into camps pro and for Ruto or Kenyatta.

“Ask yourselves why there has not been any Cabinet meeting for most of the year. They are avoiding each other respectfully,” National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi said earlier this month, voicing what many Kenyans have long suspected. 

In September, Uhuru made changes to the executive moving Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter to the Devolution ministry in what many pundits saw as targeting a Ruto ally.

One of the most enduring criticisms of President Uhuru’s CSs has been that they affected the recovery of the country aftershocks of coronavirus by shirking their ministerial responsibility to hit the campaign trail.

President Uhuru Kenyatta at the UN, October 2021. [PSCU]

Just this past week, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya was listed as a headliner during the launch of the Democratic Action Party (DAP). That party is linked to Defence Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa.

In September, Uhuru moved Wamalwa from the Devolution ministry to Defence, while Monica Juma was transferred from Defence to Energy.

In 2017, the High Court and Supreme Court determined that Cabinet secretaries being state appointees, should not participate in political activities.

Raila’s partnership

CSs such as Matiang’i, Munya, Wamalwa, Joe Mucheru (ICT) during events have touted the Uhuru administration’s actions and insisted much of that has happened because of his partnership with Raila and could only continue if Raila took charge.

The message has been explicit - there will be consequences if Raila does not become president.

Ruto has also been engaged in a war of words with ministers.

Some have hit out at the DP, castigating his 2022 presidential bid, while Ruto’s allies have also accused the ministers of disrespecting their senior.

In September last year, Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko referred to the DP as a mere clerk in President Kenyatta’s government. Mucheru recently called out the DP, accusing him of misleading the youth with his proposed bottom-up economic model.

Matiang’i and Mucheru are now part of a team of government agencies overseeing the planning of next year’s elections.

Their involvement has become a sticking point, with Ruto allies questioning their ability to plan for a free and fair election while being partial to Raila.

Public confidence

The involvement of government officials risks eroding public confidence in the electoral process and questions the government’s commitment to delivering a free and fair exercise when those mandated to ensure that happens have already picked sides.

“Matiang’i is partisan and any election management he is part of cannot be free and fair,” Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua said in October.

“CSs need to be impartial because they have to serve Kenyans whether they are in ODM, Jubilee or UDA. But you have a CS preparing for an election already deciding openly that he will support a specific candidate then the compromising of that election has begun,” Nandi Senator Samson Cherargey said.

Other shocks expected in the cabinet will come in February when some minister are expected to resign in time to meet the six-month deadline to vie for elective seats.