All eyes on Parliament as vetting of Ruto’s CS nominees to begin tomorrow

It is all systems go as President William Ruto's Cabinet Secretary nominees will undergo vetting from Thursday morning in Parliament.

This follows the expiry date of submission of memoranda from members of the public, paving the way for the commencement of the marathon vetting process on August 1 through to Sunday, August 4, 2024.

Interior CS nominee Kithure Kindiki will be the first to take the hot seat at 8am on Thursday. This will be the second vetting for President Ruto's picks by the National Assembly Committee on Appointments, chaired by Speaker Moses Wetangula, since being appointed to serve in the same docket in September 2022.

Kindiki, who was part of President Ruto's legal team when he appeared before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague, is expected to address among other issues, his involvement and the conduct of police during the Gen Z protests that resulted in the deaths of at least 60 protesters, as well as forced disappearance and abductions alongside the Kenya police Haiti mission.

Health CS nominee Debra Mlongo is expected to appear before the Appointments Committee at 10 am. The medical doctor with 15 years of specialising in internal medicine and infectious diseases is expected to convince the Parliamentary committee on how she will fix critical issues in the health docket including the posting of medical interns and implementation of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) which has faced legal setbacks.

Alice Wahome, the Cabinet Secretary nominee for Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development, makes a comeback before the vetting committee after initially being appointed as Water Cabinet Secretary by President Ruto in September 2022.

Wahome, who had been elected to serve as Kandara MP for a third term in August 2022, is expected to convince the vetting panel how she will oversee the successful implementation of the Affordable Housing programme, fully implement the Land Registration Act of 2012 as well as the review of the 2009 National Lands Policy.

Cabinet Secretary nominee for the influential Education ministry, Julius Migos Ogamba, will be the fourth candidate to be grilled by legislators at noon.

Ogamba is the current chairman of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company, and was former Education CS Ezekiel Machogu's running mate during the Kisii gubernatorial race in the 2022 General Election.

He will be tasked with explaining how he will solve critical issues currently affecting the powerful Education docket including the impending teachers strike by KNUT over a Ksh.10 billion budget cut by TSC, funds meant for the implementation of the 2021-2025 CBA.

Other issues include the recruitment of JSS teachers and the implementation of the university funding model.

Roselinda Soipan Tuya, the CS nominee for the powerful Defence docket, will conclude Thursday's Parliamentary vetting session.

The former Environment CS who also served as the Narok Woman Representative for two terms is expected to address KDF's deployment across all 47 counties to help reinforce security following anti-government protests as well as the progress of Operation Maliza Uhalifu in the bandit-prone North Rift.

On August 2, Andrew Mwihia (Agriculture), Aden Duale (Environment, Eric Muuga (Water), Davis Chirchir (Transport) and Margaret Ndung’u (ICT) will have their dates with destiny.

On August 3, John Mbadi (Treasury), Salim Mvurya (Trade), Rebecca Miano (Tourism), Opiyo Wandayi (Energy) and Kipchumba Murkomen (Sports) will also face the vetting committee in that order.

The final day of the vetting will involve Hassan Joho (Mining), Alfred Mutua (Labour) Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives), Justin Muturi (Public Service) and the new entrant Stella Lang’at of (Gender).