SUSPENDED Higher Education Minister William Ruto may return to work this week. The Office of the President has requested him to go back to his office but Ruto still wants a formal letter of reinstatement from President Kibaki. His opponents see the return of Ruto as a great opportunity to humble Prime Minister Raila Odinga.But like it or not, Kenya still has a coalition government up until 2012, with President Kibaki and the Prime Minister on a more or less equal footing. In particular, Cabinet appointments have to be jointly agreed and it is the Prime Minister's prerogative to fill half of them. Higher Education belongs to the ODM under the coalition agreement.
Now it is possible to make all sorts of specious arguments to allow Ruto to return to the Cabinet. You can say he was never dismissed, only suspended, so no special permission is needed for him to return. You can argue that ODM is split so that Ruto's wing also should share in the ministerial positions.
But in the final analysis, Kenya still has a coalition government. If Ruto is allowed to return to Cabinet without Raila's consent, it would mean that the PNU no longer accepts that coalition.
Quote of the day: "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." - Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius was born on April 26, AD 121
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