President Kenyatta New Style

President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House yesterday.

BY KIPKOECH KOMUGOR
WEDNESDAY, 24 APRIL, 2013

New style and drastic change in the way government is constituted was the message behind the release of just four, of eighteen, names of people who will constitute President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Cabinet. Heightened anxiety and expectation to see the full list was condensed into just the four, as President Uhuru and his deputy William Ruto stepped out onto the lawn of State House in white shirts and red ties to give what turned out to be a sneak preview of what their full team would look like.

The names were seen as a strong message that the Uhuru Cabinet would largely be made up of tested technocrats, with proven professional track record, probably dashing the hope of political loyalists who may have been lobbying for positions. Of the occupants of the four dockets – Treasury, Health, Foreign Affairs and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) – none had been an elected politician or worked for a political party.

The announcement was made few hours after the National Assembly had approved a 28 member team, to be chaired by Speaker Justin Muturi, to vet the nominees. The nominees were a banker, an economist, a diplomat and a governance and programmes implementation expert. They are Henry K Rotich (Treasury Cabinet Secretary), James Macharia (Health), Amina Mohamed (Foreign Affairs) and Fred Matiangi who was nominated to head the ICT Ministry.

President Uhuru’s is the first Cabinet where heads of ministries are not elected or nominated members of Parliament. Last week, the President released a Cabinet structure of 18 Cabinet Secretaries, although the Constitution allows him to appoint up to 22. Uhuru said yesterday the lean team was not negotiable. While announcing the four nominees, Uhuru said there was no shortage of “brilliant minds” to serve in the Cabinet, as he indicated he and Ruto had been interviewing possible occupants of various offices.

“We have met so many brilliant minds in the last one week. We have no shortage of capable Kenyans,” the President said, adding that unlike in past appointments, he had to meet the prospective nominees before they were picked. The President said more names would be expected in coming days, even as the parliament committee begins the work of vetting the four nominees.

The Committee of Appointments has 28 members and is chaired by the Speaker of the National Assembly. In a departure from tradition, Uhuru also read out the nominees’ curriculum vitaes before inviting each to make brief remarks. Rotich is an economics expert who had been the Head of Macro-economics at the Treasury since 2006.

“He has been involved in formulating macroeconomic policies that ensure an affordable and sustainable path of public spending aimed at achieving the Government’s development priorities,” the President said in a short citation. Previously, Rotich worked for the Central Bank of Kenya and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“He has also consulted as a short-term macroeconomic expert in the region – in Mozambique, Malawi and Rwanda with the IMF’s East AFRITAC (in Tanzania) and Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute (MEFMI) in Zimbabwe, in addition to supporting the designing of macroeconomic convergence criteria of the proposed East African Monetary Union,” said the President.

Rotich, 44, holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, a Master’s Degree in Economics from University of Nairobi and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the same university. Dr Matiangi, who has been the Eastern Africa regional Representative for the Centre for International Development, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, the State University of New York, has held various research and programme implementation positions with various local and international organisations He also consulted previously for among others the World Bank, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations Development Programme and has taught at Egerton University and the University of Nairobi.

Macharia, who has been the Group Managing Director with NIC Bank since 2005 holds an MBA Degree from Henley Management College, UK and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Nairobi. He joined Standard Chartered Bank in 1989, rising to become Financial Controller in 1994. Thereafter, he worked in Zambia as Managing Director, African Banking Corporation, and later transferred to Tanzania in the same position.

Amb Mohammed, who is the only fairly recognisable face of the four nominees, previously served as PS Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. She had also served as Ambassador of Kenya to the United Nations at Geneva. His latest appointment was as Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme at Nairobi.

Asked whether politicians, particularly his allies who failed in their bid for elective positions would find their way into Cabinet, Uhuru was noncommittal, only saying he was grateful to all Kenyans who had contributed to Jubilee’s victory and that no one would be locked out. Ministries where Cabinet secretaries are yet to be named are; Interior and Co-ordination of National Government; Devolution and Planning; Defence; Education; Transport and Infrastructure ; Environment, Water and Natural Resource; Land, Housing and Urban Development; Sports, Culture and the Arts; Labour, Social Security and Services; Energy and Petroleum; Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries; Industrialisation and Enterprise Development; Commerce and Tourism and Mining.