The new Cabinet falls far short of our expectations

It is now abundantly clear that President William Ruto is not interested in rationalising management of Kenya's finances. The anti-Finance Bill protests gave him an opportunity to clean up not only his Cabinet but also how different ministries, departments and agencies spend our money. It was an opportunity to re-earn the trust of Kenyans and boost tax morale as we move forward. Instead, he chose to play the same old political games of ethnic alliances-the same games he ran against in 2022 and which have left us impoverished over the last 60 years. The farce was made complete with the vetting of Cabinet appointees. The returning ministers revealed that their net worth had swelled considerably since their last declarations in 2022. Forget that they were on salaried employment and have little to show in terms of actual businesses. Notably, MPs did not even bother to ask for further details on their earnings. Did they file tax returns with the Kenya Revenue Authority? Do those returns match their stated earnings? How did they make so much money in an economy that for years now has been weighed down by high interest rates and erratic government policies and regulations? These are the questions that thinking Kenyans are asking themselves. And the fact that their representatives do not bother to ask the same of the nominees speaks volumes about the charade that is the vetting exercise. It is also a reminder that this new Cabinet will not be any better than the one it replaces. The overarching mental model of how the Cabinet is supposed to work and the expectations from Parliament have not changed. Certainly, all Kenyans know the approach of the appointing authority has not changed. It is telling that once the President got members of the Orange Democratic Movement to join his Cabinet the entire posture of senior officials in government and in Parliament reverted back to the pre-protest levels of hubris and total contempt for Kenyans. Very little has changed. Finally, one exception to the overall negative reception of the new Cabinet list has been Dorcas Oduor. This is telling. Kenyans are not reflexively opposed to the president and his appointees. They are willing to give each appointee a fair look and see expertise and potential where they exist. Now if only the president cared enough about the plight of Kenyans to bother with putting together a Cabinet that meets the public's standards. The writer is a professor at Georgetown University

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