By GEOFFREY MOSOKU
Politicians who campaigned for the Jubilee Coalition may be a disappointed lot after only two were given Cabinet positions.
Key politicians who vied for senatorial and parliamentary positions were conspicuously absent from the 16-member-nomination list President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto unveiled save for Charity Ngilu and Najib Balala.
Balala and Ngilu are set to make a comeback to the Cabinet after they were nominated to the ministries of Mining and Land, Housing and Urban Development respectively with only Parliament waiting to endorse them.
Chirau Ali Mwakwere, Samuel Poghisio, Sam Ongeri, Amos Kimunya, Njeru Githae and Kazungu Kambi had been linked with Cabinet appointments after failing to make it back to Parliament.
Mwakwere, Poghisio and Ongeri lost the Kwale, West Pokot and Kisii senatorial contest respectively as Kambi failed to withstand the CORD wave at the Coast to defend his Kaloleni parliamentary seat.
Githae failed the Kirinyaga Governor contest while Kimunya lost his Kipipiri parliamentary seat.
Concede defeat
Former Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi was equally linked to a Cabinet position after he rushed to concede defeat and signed a post-election pact with Uhuru’s TNA.
The deal is understood to have allocated the Amani Coalition one Cabinet slot and two Principal Secretary positions.
However, sources indicate Mudavadi may become the third politician to join Cabinet if Uhuru and Ruto agree on rewarding western Kenya with another appointment.
Former Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa did not contest any political seat in the last elections and supported Mudavadi’s candidature on a UDF ticket. It was also widely expected that Wamalwa, whose last appointment in Cabinet Uhuru influenced will make a comeback, but yesterday’s unveiling of the new list indicated the Head of State might had other ideas.
The President according to insiders was constrained in nominating political losers to Cabinet, as this would have been seen as reneging on his campaign promise of introducing new faces dubbed ‘the digital generation’ to Government.
Further, MPs allied to the Jubilee and the opposition CORD Coalition had threatened to shoot down the President’s nominees if politicians were the majority.
Defended decision
Even the inclusion of Balala and Ngilu is said to be part of the reasons why Kenyans were kept in waiting for the naming of Cabinet as the Head of State and his deputy haggled on how to handle their allies.
After lengthy discussions, sources intimated that Uhuru and Ruto had concluded to include the two, but line them up as the last names to be unveiled.
While unveiling the names at State House Nairobi, the President defended the decision to incorporate the two who played an active role in the Jubilee campaigns, saying the duo undertook not to engage in active politics.
This was in spite of Ruto’s assurance that there would be no politicians on the list.
“Our two colleagues, Balala and Ngilu who stood with us during campaigns are not politicians and we have agreed with them they will resign from all political positions and they will not involve themselves in politics,” Uhuru said.
TNA secretary general Onyango Oloo unlike his URP counterpart Davies Chirchir, was also left out and his chances diminished after Raychelle Omamo who hails from Kisumu County was nominated as Defence Secretary.
