By Juma Kwayera
Nairobi, Kenya: The 18-member Cabinet the Jubilee Government began to unveil on Tuesday underlines the transition the size and structure of the Kenyan Government has undergone since independence.
Being the first Cabinet under the new Constitution promulgated in 2010, President Uhuru Kenyatta team marks a major departure from the past practice when the political exigencies and ethnic arithmetic determined who gets into government.
One of the notable aspects of the new Cabinet is that the ministry heads will now be referred to as Cabinet Secretaries, which makes them accounting officers of their portfolios as opposed to the previous system where a minister was just a titular head.
‘Loyalism’
The evolution also sees the Cabinet being made up of experts — a major departure from the era when ‘loyalism’ earned one slot in Government.
The Cabinet will also have to be cleared by Parliament. This makes the President to proceed with caution in assembling his team lest the National Assembly shoots down the nominees.
Previously, the appointments depended on the whims of the President, and level of education as well as field of specialisation were not a factor.
Uhuru Kenyatta’s Cabinet, being assembled in consultation with Deputy President William Ruto is expected to take into consideration regional, gender, ethnic and special interest groups, a stark contrast with founding father President Jomo Kenyatta’s government at independence in 1963.
At that time, only four out of the 17 ministers came from outside central Kenya — Paul Ngei, Tom Mboya, Otiende and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
Kenyatta, who came to power as prime minister, reshuffled the Cabinet two years later after the country changed to the presidential system from the parliamentary system. However, the Cabinet size remained 17 ministers until he died in 1978 and was succeeded by Daniel Arap Moi.
Unlike Mzee Kenyatta and Moi Cabinets, but like his processor’s (Kibaki), the incoming Cabinet is centred on power-sharing between two political parties — The National Alliance and United Republican Party — that are disadvantaged by lack of outright majority in the House.
President Moi maintained the Cabinet he inherited from Mzee Kenyatta until after the 1983 snap election that was precipitated by the 1982 abortive coup.
22 ministers
After the polls, he expanded the Cabinet to 22 ministers after splitting the ministry of education into three — basic education, higher education, and science and technology.
In 1986, the Cabinet grew in size to 26 ministers, with the ministry the Foreign Affairs docket being renamed Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
After the 1988 elections, with political agitation for political pluralism growing, the President expanded his Cabinet to 31 as he sought to consolidate his support in ruling party Kanu whose popularity was fast fading as repression scarred the country.
However, the largest Cabinet the country has had is the outgoing one formed by the Grand Coalition Government following the disputed presidential poll outcome and at the same time, heal a country torn apart by ethnic tensions and suspicions.
Anchored on power-sharing, President Mwai Kibaki and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s sides of the Government each had 22 ministers that brought the total to a whopping 44 — the largest in the world.
The last Cabinet was billed as a major drain on the Exchequer.
