President William Ruto has named 51 Principal Secretaries (PSs) dominated by outsiders as he completes what is shaping up to be a more expanded Cabinet from his predecessor.
The new list includes six from the previous regime and a mix of technocrats and election losers in a careful balancing act to honour his coalition deal but falls short of the one-third gender rule.
Dr Ruto also expanded the number of PSs, creating nine more positions, a departure from the Uhuru Kenyatta administration, which had 42 accounting officers.
Should the Ruto administration succeed in its push to retain the controversial Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) positions, then his executive will be the biggest since the promulgation of the new Constitution. The list includes Belio Kipsang, who is currently in charge of Regional and Northern Corridor Development.
Dr Kipsang served as PS in the Education ministry and is headed back to the same docket that controls about Sh544 billion in annual budget.
Environment and Forestry PS Chris Kiptoo is headed to the National Treasury and will now be in charge of the government’s financial nerve centre.
Three serving PSs among them Charles Hinga, Harry Kimutai and Peter Tum will retain their Housing, Livestock and Medical services dockets, respectively.
The outgoing Devolution PS Julius Korir is headed to the Office of the Deputy President. Former Kenyan Ambassador to Pakistan Julius Bitok has been deployed to the Citizen Services Department.
August election losers have also found their way into government.
They include former Lang’ata MP Nixon Korir who has been nominated for the docket of Lands and Physical Planning while former Nairobi deputy governor Jonathan Mueke has been selected for the Sports and the Arts docket.
The President’s legal adviser Sing’oei Korir has been named in the Foreign Affairs docket.
Renowned political analyst Edward Kisiang’ani, who if approved, will be PS Broadcasting and Telecommunications.
Their names have been forwarded to the National Assembly for approval barely a few weeks after Parliament voted to save the nomination of Penina Malonza as the Cabinet Secretary nominee for Tourism after the vetting committee rejected her nomination.
