Anxiety as seven ministers set to quit government
A powerful Cabinet sub-committee met yesterday to take stock of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s flagship projects amid a cloud of uncertainty over the looming resignation of ministers between today and Tuesday next week.
The meeting of the National Development Implementation and Communication Committee, which was chaired by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, is said to have reviewed progress in the implementation of the Big Four agenda projects amid fears that several Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS) and other high-ranking public servants were planning to hand in their resignation letters starting today.
CASs Beatrice Elachi (Public Service), John Mosonik (Petroleum) and Gideon Mung’aro (Devolution) appeared to lift the lid on the impending resignations during an early morning television show when they stated that they had already handed in their resignation letters and were awaiting acceptance by the appointing authority.
“Personally, I tendered my resignation and I’m waiting to exit by February 8. But I know majority of us in government have also tendered (their) resignations and are waiting directions from the appointing authority,” said Elachi.
Right time
People Daily learnt that several Cabinet Secretaries, including Ukur Yatani (National Treasury), Charles Keter (Devolution), Peter Munya (Agriculture), Simon Chelugui (Labour), Sicily Kariuki (Water) and John Munyes (Mining) were set to hand in their resignation any moment starting today. But when contacted, the ministers were non-committal on when, or if, they will resign.
“If the CS is going to resign, he will do it in public,” said an aide of Keter, who is said to be eyeing the Kericho governorship on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket. Yatani’s aide declined to comment on the matter while Chelugui, who is seeking to unseat Baringo Governor Stanley Kiptis, also remained cagey on the issue, only saying that “I will pronounce myself on the matter when the right time comes”.
“I’ll consider your proposal to run as governor but for now, let me continue discharging my duties as CS until the right time comes,” Chelugui had told a delegation from Baringo County last week.
Sources close to Yatani said elaborate plans were being made to have him endorsed by his Gabra community to run for the Marsabit governor’s seat in the August 9 elections. Court ruling Kariuki, on the other hand, is said to be eyeing the Nyandarua governor’s seat currently held by Francis Kimemia while Munyes is seeking to contest the Turkana governor’s seat held by the outgoing Josephat Nanok. Sources close to some of the top government officials told People Daily that their bosses could not go on record over their impending resignations for fear of appearing to slight the President by breaking the news in the media.
“Several of them are resigning but they want it to come from the President and not themselves; they do not want to appear to be resigning through the media,” said an aide to one of the CSs.
According to the Elections Act, any public servant seeking to contest an elective seat must resign six months to the election date, in this case February 9. The High Court dealt the public servants a blow last week when it dismissed an application to declare unconstitutional that section of the law.
Judge Anthony Mrima dismissed an application by Eric Omari Wanyamah to declare Section 43 (5) of the Act unconstitutional on grounds that it discriminated against civil servants.
The judge said the matter had already been determined by the court in 2012 and hadn’t been appealed yet. Transport CAS Chris Obure, who is seeking the Kisii governor’s seat, hinted at resigning before the Wednesday deadline.
“Chris Obure has not resigned. If he does, you will know,” Obure said through his personal assistant, Dennis Aberi. Separately, Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga, who is seeking the Kwale governorship, was equally cagey on the issue, saying he will resign when the right time comes.
“I will quit when the right time for me to do so reaches, I will do so officially and at the ministry offices and not here in the village,” he told our reporter. Already former Rift Valley Regional Coordinator George Natembeya has resigned to vie for the Trans Nzoia governor’s seat. Kenya’s ambassador to China, Sarah Serem, is also said to have tendered her resignation to vie for the Uasin Gishu governor’s seat.
“She’s just gone back to her former working station to clear. She will come back to fully focus on her campaigns,” an aide said last week. Serem, a former Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) chairperson, is among a number of aspirants who will battle it out for the UDA ticket.
Others are former Kenya’s ambassador to Pakistan Julius Bitok, Nairobi County Environment Executive Vesca Kangogo, local politician Jonathan Bii and Soy MP Caleb Kositany.
Tourism Chief Administrative Secretary Fred Segor, who like Chelugui has set eyes on the Baringo governor’s seat, also said he was in the process of tendering his resignation. “I have already begun the handing over the process to go and focus on my political ambition...
I am doing the final bit of it which I hope to conclude on or before February 9 as set by the IEBC,” he told People Daily. Yesterday, Industrialisation CAS David Osiany, who had been tipped to vie for the Rongo parliamentary seat, withdrew from the race, saying he was committed to keeping his job.
“Leadership also comes with the patriotic burden of making hard decisions. I am not resigning. My heart is wholly invested in the growth of the nation,’’ he said.
Osiany spoke as his East African Community counterpart Ken Obura declared he was teaming up with Kisumu Senator Fred Outa and former governor Jack Ranguma to decide who among them will take on Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o in the election.
Prof Kaburu Kinoti says changes are imminent: “Though it is a difficult time for the President, the resignation of the Cabinet Secretaries may not affect service delivery at the policy level, however the resignation of AIE holders, who are Principal Secretaries, will definitely affect delivery and they may need to be filled.”
Prof Kinoti, who is Secretary General of Peace and Democracy Party and a statistics lecturer, says the President may also make lemonades out of the situation “because the opportunity accords the President and his Handshake partner a chance to reward their stalwarts who will not be on the ballot.
He adds that ministries such the National Treasury, owing to the sensitive nature, may require a substantive replacement in the event that Yatani decides to go for a political seat.
