By Kiratu Kamunya
The new Cabinet list as unveiled by President Uhuru Kenyatta has been welcomed by many Kenyans.
Owing to the great expectations that Kenyans have from the Jubilee government, this is in order. It is commendable that the President settled on a lean Cabinet portfolio of 18 ministers as a measure of austerity. The composition of previous cabinets told a story of duplicity in performance of various duties, inefficiency, ethnic considerations and ballooning sizes. As a result, although much progress has been made with the delicate act of balancing between the various competing dynamics, much more could have been realised. In his hunt for ‘these much more’, President Uhuru seems to have got his act right.
The President has gone a step further and revealed a list of ladies and gentlemen with extensive managerial and technical expertise to implement the Jubilee Agenda for the next five years. To cap it all, the team by Uhuru largely speaks of youthful and ambitious men and women with proven track records in their areas of specialty.
What they represent and what the President hopes will be transmitted to their respective areas of authority are the manifest qualities of governance. It is these qualities that are always espoused by the most successful chief executive officers and managers around the world. In governance, the Cabinet Secretaries will need to exhibit critical characteristics of good governance.First, they will have to encourage a culture of transparency. This means that decisions taken and their enforcement should be done in a manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their enforcement.
They must also be responsive by ensuring that the processes they initiate try to serve all stakeholders within a reasonable time frame. It is important for the cabinet secretaries to achieve consensus in decision-making and implementation of the Government agenda. It means there will have to be mediation of the different interests within the various merged and harmonised ministries.
Good governance is also about equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, accountability, participation and upholding the rule of law. The late John Michuki was effective in the Environment and Transport ministries because he was able to demonstrate hands on approach to leadership. That is what defined his immense success. To him, technical expertise in these areas was a distant consideration. In fact, Michuki was neither an environmentalist nor a transport manager. It is clear that what turned around the respective ministries was sound decision-making and firm implementation.
The same can be said of the current Deputy President William Ruto when he was at the Agricultural Ministry and later at the Higher Education docket. His overwhelming success was imported from his charisma and effective leadership.
It takes much more than technical expertise for a Cabinet Secretary to deliver in his area of influence. It is thus fallacious to argue that cabinet secretaries who do not possess technical skills in their ministries will perform below par.
The clamour by doctors that James Macharia is unfit to be the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Health just because he is a banker and not a doctor is baseless. After all, the President and his deputy will be expected to respond to the various national concerns and grievances across a wide range of issues. Does it mean therefore we must have a president who possesses technical know-how in almost every field?
Some of the successful football coaches in the world have never set foot on the football pitch as professional players.
They include Jose Mourinho of the triumphant Real Madrid football club of Spain. His club is successful because he possesses talent managerial skills. Others like Arsene Wenger of Arsenal who is largely successful is an economist by training. All we need is a gentleman or woman who is alive to pertinent national concerns and challenges and is responsive by generating a vision to map out desired solutions and required changes by the people.
We should, therefore, cede some space to the new appointees to prove themselves as they have already from their different backgrounds.
