Kicking out Echesa an anti-climax in Cabinet changes

After all the hype over the past few months, the Cabinet changes announced Friday by President Uhuru Kenyatta were a downright anti-climax.

The dropping of Sports CS Rashid Echesa, moving Ms Amina Mohamed from Education to the vacated docket; nominating Prof George Magoha to Education; dispensing with Information and Communications Technology PS Fatma Hirsi; and a game of musical chairs with another six PSs was a far cry from the advertised bloodbath.

The minimal changes, grandly announced in the official communiqué, suggest that either the media has been completely wrong with the stories of a major reshuffle or that in a divided government, the President does not have the clout to push through any significant changes that he may desire.

In the months preceding the announcement, there had been high expectations of a major Cabinet reshuffle.

The President himself has fuelled expectations of a major purge with his constant public censure of Cabinet Secretaries he accuses of under-performing or getting entangled in the corruption networks that blight his administration.

Indeed, the ongoing war on corruption driven over the past year by Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti and Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has seen a record number of serving Cabinet Secretaries adversely mentioned in active investigations and summoned for questioning.

Expectations have thus been high that Cabinet Secretaries, principal secretaries, state corporation heads and other high-ranking officials under suspicion or at least expected to take responsibility for corruption in their dockets, would face the axe, or at least be asked to step aside until cleared. When President Kenyatta first launched the war on corruption with his State of the Union address in March, 2015, he demanded that five Cabinet Secretaries and a whole slew of other officials on the radar of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission vacated their positions. Among the CSs forced out at the time were Davis Chirchir (Energy) and Michael Kamau (Transport and Infrastructure).

The current war on corruption has put in the cross-hairs many Cabinet Secretaries who have officially been named as under investigation, summoned for questioning, or are in-charge of dockets that are the subject of investigations.

They include Charles Keter (Energy), Najib Balala (Tourism), Eugene Wamalwa (Devolution), Fred Matiang’i (Interior), Sicily Kariuki (Health) and Henry Rotich (Treasury).

Beyond the war on corruption, however, has been the spectre of the ‘handshake’ between President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga, now approaching its first anniversary.

Many have expected that the peace pact between the two old foes would eventually result in a major shake-up reminiscent of the 2008-2013 Grand Coalition that brought Mr Odinga into President Mwai Kibaki government as Prime Minister.

One complication has been that the new Constitution limits the number of Cabinet Secretaries, so any accommodation for Mr Odinga and his allies would mean some of those serving would have to give way.

Another is that the deal between President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga is viewed with deep suspicion by DP William Ruto and his allies, who fear it may impact on the Jubilee presidential succession plan for 2022. By dint of his own power-sharing pact with President Kenyatta that formed Jubilee Party with merger of their respective TNA and URP parties, Dr Ruto holds virtual veto power on any Cabinet reshuffle.

He will not agree to changes that weaken his side of the union or give Mr Odinga any significant sway.

If President Kenyatta decided to exercise his constitutional authority and make changes without consent of the DP, he could find himself stymied during the vetting of new nominees as Mr Ruto directly controls a larger number of Jubilee legislators who would be crucial in the process.

These are the kind of dynamics that make it almost impossible for the President to follow through on his impassioned advocacy for the fight against graft; as well as in support for the proposed changes in the governance structure under the Building Bridges Initiative.