Ruto’s dream team cabinet faces parliamentary select committee amidst graft allegations
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Staff reporter GAROWE ONLINE
- Posted On 17-10-2022, 04:02PM
The vetting of the 22 Cabinet Secretary nominees that were announced last month by president William Ruto has kicked off this Monday morning at the National Assembly.
A 15-member Committee, led by Moses Wetangula, Speaker of the National Assembly is steering the hearing process that seeks to the nominees' suitability to hold public office.
According to a communiqué by the Clerk of the National Assembly Sarah Kioko, the exercise runs through to Saturday, October 22, with the exception of Thursday, October 20, which is a public holiday where Kenyans celebrate Mashujaa Day.
The vetting of 22 Cabinet nominees by the Parliamentary select committee comes at times when some of the nominees are facing corruption charges.
Once the committee winds up the vetting this coming Saturday, they are expected to submit a report recommending approval or rejection of a nominee to the House.
The head of state will then appoint his first Cabinet on November 3 earliest who tasked with driving the Kenya Kwanza –Bottom Up Manifesto aimed at uplifting ordinary Kenyans.
In Kenya, there are no cases of Parliament rejecting a president’s nominees. But over the last few days, there has been a public outcry on the suitability of some of the nominees to hold public office.
Corruption cases dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
As the Parliamentary select committee continues to vet the 22 Cabinet Secretaries nominees, a hard question is being asked by Kenyans, Is whether some of the nominees are fit to hold public office due to corruption allegation cases hanging over their heads?
In the last few days, Kenyans have witnessed what can only be termed as political cleansing where those accused of corruption cases have since been declared innocent and their graft allegation cases were dropped mysteriously.
Last week Aisha Jumwa, the Cabinet nominee for Public Service and Gender had her corruption cases withdrawn by Noordin Hajji, Director of Public Prosecutions in unclear circumstances.
The Cabinet nominee for Agriculture, Mithika Linturi who was facing an attempted rape case is also a beneficiary of the ‘Whitewashing’ scenario where his accuser decided to withdraw the charges.
Both Ms. Jumwa and Mr. Linturi were also among 241 politicians that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission [EACC] was aiming to bar from contesting various political seats during the August 9th polls.
Had both EACC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the courts succeeded in going for full trial then these two would not stand a chance of being nominated as Cabinet Secretaries.
This is because the vetting committee which is made up of both Kenya Kwanza and Azimio La Umoja teams would have used the cases to question the integrity of the two. The Kenyan Constitution, chapter 6 sets the leadership and integrity bar quite high for any person seeking public office.
The Kenya Kwanza team have the numbers in both Senate and Parliament hence, hence they would easily push for their own candidate at all cost ignoring Chapter 6 of the constitution.
Last month; National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula issued a ruling last week declaring President Ruto’s coalition the majority party, ending the weeks-long standoff over the balance of power in the House.
While delivering his ruling Wetang’ula argued that Kenya Kwanza Coalition had 175 Members of Parliament against rival Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance’s 157.
GAROWE ONLINE
