President Ruto criticised for taking time to name Cabinet

Kathiani MP Robert Mbui has faulted the president for “dragging his feet on naming his government”, saying it has made the government delay in addressing pertinent issues the country is facing.

“As the government stands now, we have the president and his deputy already elected into office… What the president needs to do is name a Cabinet and forward it to parliament so that we can be able to approve the appointments or reject them so that we can start working,” Mbui said on Monday during Citizen TV’s Day Break program.

According to the legislator, the Ebola outbreak that has rocked Kenya’s western neighbour Uganda poses a great risk to the country and is one of the issues which Kenya should be actively prepared to tackle.

“He needs to pick a Cabinet so that we can begin to address these matters. Ebola is not a joke and he needs to come out clean and address it, he was here and saw what COVID did to this country and the economy. We don’t want that disease to get into our country, let him start working,” Mbui said.

The MP who is allied to the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition further blamed President Ruto’s delay on politicians who have of late been decamping to the Kenya Kwanza Alliance after losing their bids in the August 9 polls.

“I think the problem is the minute he started buying members of the opposition, everybody who lost elections in our stronghold went and joined him and now naming a cabinet is going to be a tall order because who does he pick and who does he leave out?” argued Mbui.

Dr. Ruto took the oath of office on September 13 to become the country’s fifth president. His predecessor, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, as well as the late President Daniel Moi took an average two weeks after taking the oath of office to unveil members of their Cabinet.

With President Mwai Kibaki, however, it was a matter of only three days after being sworn in on December 30, 2002 before he named his first Cabinet.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua recently said Cabinet appointments might take roughly two weeks from now, indicating Dr. Ruto plans to name his Cabinet alongside the principal secretaries.

"I don't think the president wants to appoint the Cabinet Secretaries without the Principal Secretaries. I'm not sure of the time but I'd say like two weeks so Kenyans should be patient. In any case there is no vacuum. The president and his deputy are working. We don't have as much support as we would want but the two of us are keeping things going," Gachagua said in a September 18 interview with KTN News.

Currently, applications for the PS positions are ongoing after the Public Service Commission (PSC) extended the deadline for applications to September 27.

After the applications, PSC is required to conduct interviews then submit names of persons for nomination and appointment as PSs to the President. 

The President will then nominate candidates and forward the list to Parliament for approval.