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| Cabinet Balala, Ngilu, Ruto, Uhuru and a cute kid! |
Since the March
4, 2013 election, significant changes in the government and how it will move
forward have been in the spotlight. This last week Kenyatta’s
government has taken a refreshingly unfamiliar look. The executive branch has
reduced the cabinet from 44 ministers to 18, removed many figureheads from the
previous power-sharing coalition, and added six women.
For those who
appreciate technocrats, as I do, the media is calling it a “cabinet of
professionals” because a majority of the members is from the business world (Economist, 2013). A few notable appointments include
Amina Mohammed, a former UN official, to the foreign ministry, making her the
first woman and first ethnic Somali to hold the post. Further, Raychelle Omamo,
was appointed as Kenya’s first female defense minister (Economist, 2013).
The nominees
will have to go through a vetting process before their job placement is
official. They must answer a serious of questions, ranging from their sources
of income and assets they own to charges form the courts, to secure
confirmation by the National Assembly (This is the Kenyan equivalent of Senate
confirmation). A questionnaire, submitted May 8, 2013, will kick off a 12-day process
t determine whether those nominated will be confirmed for their positions (Ndegwa & Kimutai, 2013). The questionnaire will ask about their
wealth, tax statuses, charges of corruption and any investigatory reports by
Parliament, and their overall conduct, i.e. if they are linked to nepotism and
gender bias.
Once the
personal information is collected, public hearings with a summarized document
on the suitability of each nominee will be available. Each of the nominees will
appear before the Committee of Appointments and respond to any issues raised. A
full report on the nominees will be available May 14th in the House
for a debate (Ndegwa & Kimutai, 2013).While Kenyatta’s cabinet is off to a good
start, he still has two vacant positions, and there are concerns about a few
appointees lack of experience, as well as a few old faces keeping their post.
Charity Ngilu and Najib Balala remain even though they were both defeated in
the election to the Senate, but Kenyatta included them because he had weak
electoral support among their constituencies among Kamba and on the coast. Some
observers fear Ngilu will block land reform (Economist, 2013), although in my view, there are plenty
of politicians in Kenya with an interest in blocking land reform
Overall Kenyan
citizens are looking forward and people are trying to support progress. For
example, Kenyatta has vowed to protect media freedom. A range of politicians have
offered their thoughts on how to fix major issues such as land ownership and
ethnic divisions. Kenyatta promises to implement polices, programs, and
initiatives that promote freedom of the media. “We
expect the media to be at the forefront in educating, and informing Kenyans so
that they hold the government to account from an informed point of view,” said
Kenyatta. He also stressed that the media needs to uphold the highest standards
of professionalism remaining free, fair, and objective (Leftie, 2013).
At
a conference last week Raila Odinga suggested a way to end the country’s strong
ethnic divisions: by switching from a Presidential to Parliamentary system. He explained that the Presidential system
allows for an environment where communities pin their hopes on individuals
based on their ethnicity and other policy issues and merit are not as big as a
factor as they should be (Mutinga, 2013). Odinga
stated that Kenya should focus on deepening reforms and strengthening
institutions and switching to a parliamentary system, members from the smallest
community has a chance to be president. An obvious critique of Odinga’s
argument is that it would require a massive revision of the recently passed
Kenyan Constitution (2010), which he was at the forefront of supporting. In my
view, he should have made this argument about five years ago, not now. The
horse has already left the barn.
