Kinyua’s gaffe at Uhuru handover

  SHARE BOOKMARKPRINTEMAILRATING

Photo/FILE Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta (right) and Permanent Secretary Joseph Kinyua at a news conference June 2, 2011 at the Treasury.  

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Friday, February 3  2012 at  19:12

There was a telling bloomer at Nairobi’s Treasury Building when Finance Permanent Secretary Joseph Kinyua invited Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta to hand over the Finance docket to his successor.

“May I invite Honourable Uhuru to hand over to Honourable Kenyatta,” Mr Kinyua intoned.

Mr Kenyatta, who sat next to his successor, Mr Robinson Njeru Githae, broke into loud laughter.

Of course Mr Kinyua was inviting Mr Kenyatta to hand over to Mr Githae.

But then it didn’t immediately hit Mr Kinyua that he had made a mistake. Perhaps, he hadn’t.

It was only after he saw the curious looks from all and sundry in the room, and after a whisper from some mandarin next to him, he recollected his thoughts.

He explained away the gaffe as his way of “missing” Mr Kenyatta even before he had stepped out of office.

But looking at the slip-up in light of the recent uproar over Mr Kenyatta’s refusal to quit as Deputy Prime Minister, it may as well be that Mr Kinyua subconsciously let out a secret, though inadvertently.

Share This Story

Share 

That perhaps Mr Githae was just a face, a kind of stooge at the Treasury. Or maybe, it is one of those things called “a genuine mistake”.

There have been concerns that Mr Kenyatta’s reluctance to quit as DPM is because he wants to keep an eye on whatever goes on at the Treasury, since the full name of the ministry is “Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance”.

Explaining that his former boss will now be a minister without portfolio, Mr Kinyua said this was not unique to Kenya. This means that Mr Kenyatta will still attend Cabinet meetings.

Mr Kinyua defined the seat of the Finance Minister as “the most difficult job in government” and yes, it is with that, that Mr Githae, who’d promised to hit the ground running as soon as the handover was done, changed his mind. He asked for a 100-day “honeymoon”.

But then there’s a new Constitution which has key deadlines. Mr Kenyatta said the new minister has to focus on complying with the Constitution in so far as a new currency for the country is concerned.

“Notes and coins issued by the Central Bank of Kenya may bear images that depict or symbolise Kenya or an aspect of Kenya but shall not bear the portrait of any individual,” reads article 231(4) of the 17-month-old Constitution.

Now, for a man whose father has been on the country’s notes and coins, such a declaration is likely to evoke a sense of loss. But Mr Kenyatta’s face betrayed none of that.
But there was a tinge of impatience in the way he handed over to Mr Githae. Forget whatever they did in the backroom.

It’s what they did in front of the cameras: After reading his speech, Mr Kenyatta stood, shook Mr Githae’s hand, gave him a sheaf of papers and then shook hands with all the mandarins in the boardroom.

Then, turning to Mr Githae, he asked him to “kalia kiti sawasawa” and abruptly left.