SATURDAY, JULY 4, 2015
Eugene Wamalwa during vetting by the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments on June 9, 2015. PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Last-minute objections by the URP wing of the Jubilee government about the scope of the Water and Irrigation ministry could be responsible for the delayed swearing-in of Mr Eugene Wamalwa to the Cabinet, the Sunday Nation can reveal.
URP, headed by Deputy President William Ruto, has silently registered its displeasure with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decision to take the irrigation function away from the giant ministry of Agriculture whose Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei is on suspension over corruption claims. The water docket was hived off Prof Judi Wakhungu’s Environment ministry.
The former Justice minister was nominated Water and Irrigation minister on April 17 but it was not until June 10 that the National Assembly approved his appointment. But almost one month later, he is yet to be sworn in.
The Sunday Nation has learnt that the main complaint of influential leaders in URP — which is in an alliance with the TNA — is that the hiving off of the crucial function from the Agriculture ministry was being done at a time when more money had been allocated for irrigation projects.
In the 2015/2016 budget, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich allocated Sh15 billion towards irrigation. The Galana Irrigation Scheme is by far the most ambitious of the lot with an initial acreage of one million and a cost of Sh400 billion — but whose viability has since been disputed.
Some analysts consider Mr Wamalwa’s nomination to be a strategy by Jubilee to lure the vote-rich western Kenya ahead of the 2017 elections. The region is currently a Cord stronghold.
A politician close to him told theSunday Nation in confidence that Mr Wamalwa had increasingly grown impatient, wondering whether Mr Kenyatta had changed his mind about the appointment.
SIX DAYS LATER
Compared to Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery whose nomination was approved by MPs on December 18 last year and was sworn in only six days later, the man from Bungoma County, who resigned as New Ford Kenya party leader after the nomination, has no doubt had a tortuous wait to once again fly the flag.
The wait is also evident at Maji House where Mr Wamalwa is supposed to sit. A visit to the building by the Sunday Nation revealed that the CS’s office has been prepared, only waiting for his name tag to be attached to his door. Mr Wamalwa also reportedly has security officers assigned to him.
To demonstrate his eagerness to take up the job, the former Saboti MP told the parliamentary committee vetting him last month that if appointed, he would constitute a task force to unlock the bottlenecks that have delayed the implementation of the Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme.
When he was invited by Industrialisation minister Adan Mohamed to speak at a recent function in Kakamega County where President Kenyatta handed over a Sh1 billion bailout cheque to Mumias Sugar Company, Mr Wamalwa talked of having “sneaked out of Nairobi” amid preparations for his swearing-in to welcome the President in “my back yard”.
Even though the URP officials who spoke to the Sunday Nation in confidence acknowledged Mr Wamalwa’s appointment was irreversible, they said there was a need to retain some key parastatals in “their” Agriculture ministry. They, however, said the delay will pass a strong message that the 50-50 agreement with TNA should not be taken for granted.
A senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed there were “quiet negotiations” over the scope of the new ministry.
“What has made it take time is the decision on which parastatals should fall under his docket, a matter contested by some,” the source said.
The official said that the debate has more to do with who controls the billions in the ministry.
The development also means that a draft Irrigation Bill which would have seen the function transferred to counties will either have to be discarded or rewritten.
An influential individual close to State House, but who also requested anonymity, said that no matter how long Mr Wamalwa’s assumption to office takes, there is no turning back on the decision.
“Take it from me, there may be issues here and there over the appointment but we will not engage the reverse gear,” the official said.
However, Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkong’a, a close ally of Mr Ruto, said the President has the sole discretion on when Mr Wamalwa joins the Cabinet and there should be no speculation.
“I believe the delay has more to do with the appointment of principal secretaries than what people are saying about URP protesting. Eugene (Mr Wamalwa) is a Kenyan just like each of us and has every right to be a cabinet secretary,” he said, adding that the President had not breached any law by delaying the appointment.
BRIEF EVENT
State House Spokesman Manoah Esipisu was curt in his response that the delay is “just a matter of scheduling”. He did not clarify. The swearing-in of a CS is usually a brief event presided over by the Chief Justice and the Registrar of the Judiciary in the presence of the President.
Lawyer Tom Ojienda said that the law is silent on how long a minister or state official should wait to be sworn in.
“There is no timeline. The law assumes that the President will act in good faith. Also, it is inconceivable that the President would appoint persons to offices in which he does not want them to serve,” he said.
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