Tough times await new Ruto Cabinet

No sooner had the Supreme Court affirmed the election of President William Ruto and his Deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, than the President took the next logical step and named his Cabinet, thus setting the tone for his administration.

The time for a transition was ripe considering that the President had chaired what is likely to be the last meeting with members of the outgoing Cabinet. As expected, he received a briefing on the State of Government as he gets down to the business of crafting his administration and leading the implementation of his campaign pledges.

Whereas it is the President’s prerogative to name a Cabinet, Ruto did well to move with speed and name one although it was clear that he had to strike a delicate balancing act between gender and regional representation. Without a doubt, the nominations signal the direction that he intends the country to take while also addressing anxiety that had started growing over whom he intended to include in his government. Although not every part of the country will be happy, the question has been settled, at least for now.

Nominating his Cabinet has also given his government much needed stability especially given the numerous challenges it is facing, including the ongoing drought. There is also need to address the crisis facing the management of football as well as clarifying the diplomatic issues emerging from the President’s recent pronouncements. The nominees can now get down to doing their home-work ahead of their vetting by Parliament. Once the transition is completed and the new Cabinet is substantively is in place, the Ruto administration can be judged, assessed, criticized or appreciated from a point of knowledge and information as the need may arise.

With the National Assembly officially opening the day after tomorrow, the mechanism for vetting the nominees will soon be in place and as such, there is every indication that once approved, the nominees will hit the ground running.

One of the promises the country was watching closely was about appointing women to fill half of the Cabinet slots. Whereas the substantive appointees fulfill the one-third gender rule, debate is expected about the other women nominee advisors that the President said were “Cabinet-level” appointments. Did he or did he not meet the expectation? Kenyans will be evaluating him on this score in the short term. For now, they should get out the status notes from their outgoing colleagues and start preparing for the tough journey ahead of them.