President William Ruto has dissolved his first Cabinet, while choosing to retain only his deputy Rigathi Gachagua, and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi who doubles up as the CS Foreign Affairs.
The new development follows the recent youth-led protests meant to oppose tax hikes, and to demand governance reforms including dissolution of the cabinet.
The current Cabinet has been under immense scrutiny attributed to unpopular policies and public display of opulence that has angered Kenyans struggling to make ends meet amid a high cost of living.
The Ruto cabinet was announced on September 27, 2022, and was reshuffled on October 4, 2023, with new cabinet portfolios aimed at improving efficiency.
Many members of the now-defunct cabinet were Ruto’s political allies and point persons in key electoral zones in the last election.
Alfred Mutua, Moses Kuria, and Justin Muturi led political parties that joined Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) in forming the Kenya Kwanza government.
Aden Duale, Alice Wahome, and Kipchumba Murkomen gave up their parliamentary elective positions to take up roles in the cabinet.
Here is the full list of the dismissed Cabinet Secretaries;
According to the president, Principal Secretaries will now supervise the ministries in the interim, as Ruto is expected to form a broad-based government.
“I will immediately engage in extensive consultations across different sectors and political formations, to set up a broad-based government that will assist me in expediting the necessary, urgent, and irreversible, implementation of radical programmes to deal with the burden of debt,” Ruto said on Thursday at State House, Nairobi.
It remains unclear when the president will reconstitute his Cabinet.