CS nominees to face tough vetting test starting today
Each of President William Ruto’s cabinet nominees will take two hours during the vetting exercise set to commence today.
The committee on appointments resolved to give each of the nominees’ ample time to respond to questions despite an earlier notice indicating that some of the nominees will take one hour to one and half hours.
The committee has planned to vet five nominees each day save for Saturday- the last day where only four nominees will appear.
According to the schedules, Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi who has been nominated to the position of Prime Cabinet secretary was supposed to take about one and half hours during the exercise compared to former speaker Justin Muturi (Attorney General), Garissa Township MP Aden Duale (Defense), former Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua (Foreign and Diaspora Affairs) and Kandara lawmaker Alice Muthoni (Water, Sanitation and Irrigation) who were scheduled to take one hour.
Members of the committee confirmed that they concluded plans for the vetting exercise on Thursday ahead of today.
Leader of Minority in the National Assembly, Opiyo Wandayi said they plan to carry out a thorough vetting exercise and that is why they have given the nominees ample time to express themselves. “We meet tomorrow morning for the exercise, we expect each nominee to take two hours,” said Wandayi.
In the said notice, Assembly Acting Clerk Serah Kioko asked all the nominees to carry with them their clearance certificates from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Credit Reference Bureaus. During today’s exercise set to run for one week, speaker Mosses Wetangula is expected to issue a communication regarding the fate of Mudavadi after the opposition Azimio-One Kenya coalition members argued that his position was not provided for in the constitution.
The communication comes after Wandayi during last Thursday’s meeting of the appointments committee that had been called to set the ground rules ahead of the commencement of the vetting exercise interrupted the session after he sought Wetangula’s direction on the fate of Musalia.
Wandayi argued that the constitution only provides for a president, a Deputy President, a Cabinet secretary and an Attorney general and does not in any way create a position of a Prime cabinet secretary.
Rubbished sentiments
“The speaker has promised to issue a ruling on this matter before the exercise commences, I hope this one will be done publicly, we want to know how we are going to approach this matter.”
Musalia is the first nominee to face the vetting panel today in the exercise that is expected to end on Saturday to pave way for report writing, which will be tabled, to the house for either approval or rejection.
Mudavadi’s Spokesperson Kibisu Kabatesi has, however, rubbished Wandayi’s sentiments stating that clear guidelines are entrenched in the Constitution on the creation of public offices and the Executive Order No. 1 of 2022 by President William Ruto on the Structure of his Cabinet suffice.
“The issue of unconstitutionality does not arise because the President has the prerogative to structure and cabinet in the manner he deems fit. “ said Kabatesi.
