Uhuru's plan for apolitical Cabinet and rise of women

President Uhuru Kenyatta chairs a Cabinet Meeting at State House, Nairobi in February 2021. [PSCU]

When on April 25 2013 President Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled nominees for ministerial positions in his government, it was a Cabinet like no other – comprising mainly of technocrats from the civil service, private sector and global agencies, most of whose faces were new to majority of Kenyans. 

Except for seasoned politicians Charity Ngilu and Najib Balala, who were assigned Lands and Housing, and Mining dockets, respectively, the rest of the team paraded during a Press conference at the State House in Nairobi, looked unfamiliar, fresh and fervent. Little wonder Kenyans had every reason to be excited about this refreshing breed of ministers – nay, cabinet secretaries – under a new Constitution, promulgated only three years earlier.    

The only other surprising but refreshing experience in history was at independence when pioneer President Jomo Kenyatta appointed Bruce McKenzie, a white man, to the plum Ministry of Agriculture, and much later in 1983 when Kenyatta’s successor Daniel arap Moi plucked mathematics lecturer Prof George Saitoti from the University of Nairobi and made him Finance Minister. Upon their respective appointments, McKenzie and Saitoti were nominated to Parliament.  

Besides these outliers and recent history, the Cabinet has since 1963 comprised of politicians – in fact the type that are most popular, influential and authoritative within the various party power hierarchies. This explains why, at independence, members of Kenya’s pioneer Cabinet such as Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the first Vice President, Attorney General Charles Njonjo, Tom Mboya, Joseph Murumbi, James Gichuru, Mbiyu Koinange, Joseph Otiende, Lawrence Sagini, Jackson Angaine and Dr Njoroge Mungai, among others, quickly rose to political fame.      

But 60 years later, the structural design of the Cabinet changed fundamentally. Coincidentally, it was Kenyatta’s son – Uhuru – who was charged with the historical duty of enforcing the shift to a constitutional order of separation of powers among the three arms of government.

Ideally, Uhuru had to assemble his Cabinet from outside Parliament effective from 2013. The elevation of non-elected individuals into these influential positions understandably created excitement among the general public and envy amongst the political class.       

The names and faces of Fred Matiang'i, Henry Rotich, James Macharia, Ann Waiguru, Michael Kamau, Phyllis Chepkosgey Kandie, Felix Kosgey, Dr Hassan Wario, Amina Mohamed, Adan Mohammed, Davis Chirchir, Raychelle Omamo, Prof Jacob Kaimenyi, Prof Judy Wakhungu, were more like a blast from the blues. The Cabinet secretaries were accordingly received with awe, mixed with excitement and high expectations.

President Uhuru Kenyatta chairs a Cabinet Meeting at State House, Nairobi. [PSCU]

And the equally fresh-looking, young and energetic President and his deputy heaped praise on their appointees, pointing out that the new team had outstanding credentials. According to the duo, the nominees enjoyed “vast professional experience” with some members having been plucked from “lucrative jobs across the world”.

The unveiling of the team – piecemeal over a period of one week – was done in style, with Uhuru and Ruto, clad in uniform white shirts and red neckties. The pair sought to assure Kenyans of a professional outfit that would deliver on its mandate.

And the Jubilee coalition leaders sounded even more convincing when they named their first four nominees on April 23, 2013. Addressing the public the following day, Ruto maintained that the list of nominees would only be made up of technocrats. He stressed that only he and Uhuru would be the politicians in the Executive.

“Kenyans said that they do not want a Cabinet made up of politicians and that is what we are working on. Our Cabinet will be a Cabinet of professionals who will steer the development agenda of this country,” Ruto said.

Barely 24 hours later, the Jubilee leaders were contradicting themselves. They named 12 more cabinet nominees, including Balala and Ngilu, who had initially been left out. The two vied and lost in their bid for senatorial positions in the March (2013) poll.

“We have agreed that our two colleagues (Balala and Ngilu), who stood with us during campaigns will resign from all political positions and will not involve themselves in politics,” the President said of the two, who were principal partners in the Jubilee coalition, alongside Uhuru and Ruto.

The pair went back on their word rather too soon, and by the end of the first term in office, it had opened doors for three more politicians – Charles Keter, who had been elected as Senator of Kericho County but quit after being named Energy CS; Eugene Wamalwa, then party leader of New Ford-Kenya; and former Laikipia East legislator Mwangi Kiunjuri. More politicians: John Munyes, Raphael Tuju and even Rashid Echesa, a former national chairman of ODM’s Youth League, who unsuccessfully vied for Mumias West parliamentary seat in the 2017 polls on a Jubilee Party ticket, trooped into government.  

According to Bobby Mkangi, a member of the Committee of Experts (CoE), the technical committee that spearheaded reforms captured in the 2010 Constitution, Uhuru’s idea of locking out politicians from the Executive was a good notion. He, however, believes the President and his deputy Ruto, caved in to pressure upon appreciating the need for “political continuity” as government.

In fact, the inclusion of Tuju, the Secretary General of Jubilee party, in Uhuru’s Cabinet in the second term in office, was a clear manifestation of this fact – political continuity. The inclusion of Tuju, who has been a CS without portfolio, was purely political and strategic.

By keeping politicians at bay, pundits believe Uhuru had envisaged a scenario where he would tap on the skills and experience of the technocrats to execute his economic blue-print alongside other development projects. And there is no denying that his team of experts enjoyed impressive background and resumes.

From an array of ambassadors in powerful nations overseas, the United Nations, advocates of the high court, one of who was the first female chairperson of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), university lecturers, former senior civil servants to the rank of Permanent Secretary, a chief executive officer of a leading bank and a senior editor, among others, a lot was expected from Kenya’s first set of team of Cabinet secretaries.

There is no denying that the team delivered on several fronts, with some, like Dr Matiang’i, (who led the ICT ministry), standing out as good performers, a factor that led to his transfer to three other dockets.  

When President Uhuru Kenyatta chaired a Cabinet Meeting at State House, Nairobi in February 2021. [PSCU]

   But this experiment recorded its downside too. The “experts only” Cabinet was plagued with corruption cases, and by the end of their first six years, five of the CSs, representing a whopping 25 per cent of Uhuru’s Cabinet, had been fingered for alleged involvement in graft or professional malpractice. They included Felix Kosgey, Davis Chirchir, Anne Waiguru, Dr Hassan Wario and Henry Rotich. 

But perhaps, one of the greatest achievements of Uhuru’s Cabinet lies in his effort to bridge the gender gap. In his first Cabinet, he named six women – Ngilu, Waiguru, Kandie, Amina, Omamo, and Wakhungu into his government – meeting the one third constitutional requirement on gender representation.

Midway the Jubilee administration’s first term and later in its second term, Dr Monica Juma, Ms Sicily Kariuki, Ms Farida Karoney, Prof Margaret Kobia and Ms Betty Maina also got on board. And as Uhuru has proudly mentioned, he did not treat the ladies as “mere flower girls” but assigned them indeed powerful ministries, including Defence, Foreign Affairs, Health, Public Services, Lands and Trade.

On the latter account, Uhuru scores a lot better than his predecessors, including Kenyatta senior, who in 1974 appointed the then Busia Central MP Prof Julia Ojiambo as the first female assistant minister (Housing). No woman served in a substantive Cabinet minister position during his reign.

Moi did one better by appointing Nyiva Mwendwa in 1995 as Cabinet minister in the Ministry of Culture Social Services. Curiously, this was barely a couple of weeks to the International Women’s Conference in Beijing. Fresh in office, Mwendwa led the Kenyan delegation to the event.

Uhuru’s immediate predecessor pushed this number to five through appointments of Ngilu, Martha Karua, Dr Sally Kosgey, Margaret Kamar, Hellen Sambili and Linah Jebii Kilimo.