President Ruto's half Cabinet: Who are the new faces?

President William Ruto on Friday announced a list of the first batch of 11 Cabinet Secretary nominees meant to replace the recently fired 22.

Despite six nominees from the 11-member list having served in the previous Cabinet, five faces are new to the public eye.

They are; Dr. Debra Mulonga Barasa (Health), Julius Migos Ogamba (Education), Dr. Andrew Mwihia Karanja (Agriculture and Livestock Development), Eric Muriithi Muuga (Water, Sanitation and Irrigation), and Margaret Nyambura Ndung'u (Information, Communication and the Digital Economy).

But just who are these new previously little-known perceived experts that the President is bringing in and tasking with turning around the government following recent uproar?

Education CS nominee Julius Migos Ogamba is a Senior Advocate at Migos Ogamba & Waudo Advocates, boasting of over 25 years in practice.

Before the nomination, he served as the Chairperson of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) following his appointment last year.

Ogamba is an alumnus of the University of Nairobi where he attained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1988, and thereafter graduated from the Kenya School of Law with a Post Graduate Diploma in Law in 1993.

Health nominee Dr. Debra Mulongo Barasa, on her part, is a practicing senior medical doctor with more than 15 years of experience.

Having specialised in internal medicine and infectious diseases, Dr. Barasa has worked in health institutions across national, referral, private and Community-Based Organisations including the renowned CHANF as well as the World Health Organisation (WHO). She also worked as an Internal Medicine Physician at the Mater Hospital.

Among her key achievements in the field is co-leading programmes addressing outbreak-prone infections such as respiratory infections (COVID-19, diphtheria), viral haemorrhagic fevers (Ebola, SVD), and contagious diarrhoea (Cholera) among others.

The new Health CS nominee acquired a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree between 2001 and 2006 at the University of Nairobi, and later a Master of Internal Medicine at the same institution.

She is currently pursuing a Master's in Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Eric Mugaa Murithi, who has been picked to take over from Alice Wahome in the Water, Sanitation and Irrigation docket, is a civil engineer and a water resource enthusiast with over 8 years experience.

Muriithi has worked as an Assistant Project Engineer at the Water and Sanitation Development Project (WSDP), KIMAWASCO, and also as a Design Engineer at the Kenya Towns Sustainable Water and Supply Sanitation Program.

Being the youngest on the list, the 32-year-old has a Bachelor's degree in Civil and Construction Engineering from the University of Nairobi and a Masters in Civil Engineering (Water Resources) from the same institution.

He has specialised in Operations and Management of Engineering Projects, Water Hydraulic Modeling, Design of Water and Wastewater Networks, as well as Water Treatment Plants and other structures.

Agriculture CS nominee Dr. Andrew Mwihia Karanja is an Agricultural Economist at the World Bank with more than 36 years of experience in the public sector, both locally and internationally.

He majors in the fields of development economics, rural development and finance, agriculture and livestock development, project formulation, management and evaluation.

Having started as an extension officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. Karanja rose through the ranks from a Planning and Research Officer/Agricultural Economist (Coffee Research Foundation (CRF) to Senior Agricultural Economist and eventually Head of the Economics Department in the same ministry.

He has a bachelor's Degree in Agriculture and a Master's in Agricultural Economics, both from the University of Nairobi, and a PhD in Development Economics and Policy from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

Newly nominated ICT CS Dr. Margaret Nyambura Ndung’u, is a renowned expert in Internet Governance.

She has immense experience in internet infrastructure, AI, machine learning, cybersecurity, and data governance and has hugely contributed to the African Union's digital transformation strategy for education, health, and agriculture sectors.

Dr. Ndung’u has achieved key accolades in her career having played a key role in developing and implementing the African Union Data Policy Framework, coordinating a six-module online Internet Governance curriculum used by 30 national and regional schools across Africa and developing a 10-module course for the Pan African University Institute, tailoring it to the e-skills of participants.

Prior to her nomination, she worked as a consultant at the ICT Authority in the Education Ministry, and as a Senior Research Manager in Gender Justice in Stem Research in Africa (GeJuSTA).