Uhuru list: Only singer Jaguar is youth-Appointees angers ‘digital’ vote

 Appointments have triggered debate

The recent presidential appointments of parastatal chairmen and board members of various organisations have triggered debate on recycling “political rejects” to the appointment of “dinosaurs” at the expense of the youth.

Dr Richard Leakey, Marsden Madoka and Musikari Kombo, who have benefited from President Uhuru’s appointments, were calling the shots when 75 per cent of Kenyans were either in diapers or not born.

This has triggered an outcry from the youth especially in social media where many expressed their disappointment with the “digital government” for appointing “political deadwood”.

Going by the constitutional definition of a youth, who is anybody below the age of 35, musician Jaguar was the only appointment in that category.

But like all presidential appointments, the list is usually composed by close aides, which means for anybody to make the “list of fame” they must be well acquainted with the president’s men. This, perhaps, explains why it is very difficult for an “outsider” to break into the circle of high profile appointments.

Besides the so-called political appointments, there were the “royal family” appointment, where President Uhuru Kenyatta went fishing in “royal” family pools. The most notable was the appointment of Dr Wenwa Akinyi Odinga who is a sister to Cord leader Raila Odinga and retired President Mwai Kibaki’s daughter, Judy. These allocations are a reflection of political families’ continued dominance of plum state jobs.

Other appointees whose surnames betray their parentage include Lucy Karume, Leah Ntimama, Margaret Saitoti and Michael Michuki all of who are sons, daughters and wives to powerful men in past regimes.

The biggest beneficiary in the family category was the Nyachaes, whose patriarch Simeon  is a former powerful civil service chief and cabinet minister, and whose five family members were given lucrative jobs in various parastatals. Nyachae’s daughter Judy and son Kenneth Bitange Nyachae were appointed to the Export Processing Zone and the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority boards respectively.

Other beneficiaries from the Nyachaes include niece Violet Omwamba, who got appointed to the Lake Victoria South Water Services Board, nephew Christopher Ayienda who is now a member of the New Kenya Co-Operative Creameries Ltd and another nephew Samuel Nyanchama who is the newest board member at Energy Regulatory Commission.

 This comes several years after Nyachae’s eldest son Charles clinched the chairmanship of the Constitution Implementation Commission.

 “If it’s true that five members of the same family have been appointed, that is very wrong because in a county of 45 million people, there are more than 15 million families all of whom deserve an appointment,” explains constitutional lawyer Kibe Mungai.

“However, as the President said, this is just the first batch of appointments, and I believe that during the second batch, the issues raised by the public will be adequately addressed,” Kibe added.

According to Kibe, the fact that the youth have not been appointed can be explained by the reality that parastatal chairmen need to be older and experienced boardroom operatives.

“But even if the excuse was the fact that they need more experience than the under 35s, even the 40-50 age bracket has not been properly addressed because most of the appointees are above 50,” Kibe explained.

“This should be taken into consideration when doing the next appointments because as we know, the youth constitute 75 per cent of Kenyans.”

There were also surprise appointments like that of Mombasa cleric Sheikh Juma Ngao to the board of National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada), Cord leader’s sister Wenwa Odinga and Amani Coalition leader’s spokesman Kibitsu Kabatesi.

While the others could be seen as a ploy to silence or appease opposition figures, the appointment of the opposition-supporting moderate sheikh who once declared that “what leaders fail to understand is that Cord is the ruling government in the entire Coast whereas Jubilee is the official opposition here,” might be interpreted as a ploy to lure coastal votes.

But Ben Mulwa, a political analyst, opines that the appointments fell short of the expectations of the Kenyan youth who form three quarters of the country’s population.

“There is hope when we see the success of young people successfully leading bodies like Joshua Oigara, 39, at Kenya Commercial Bank, Nzioka Waita, 39, who is the Delivery Secretary and Paul Muthaura steering the Capital Markets Authority,” he explained. “But when you throw in Kalembe Ndile, Raphael Wanjala and the likes in the mix, it is akin to stepping on fresh cow dung on your wedding day - the whole day will stink!” said Mulwa