"Unnecessarily tedious" vetting process left a lot to be desired

Vetting of President William Ruto's Cabinet Secretary nominees came to a close on October 22 with a good number of them coming under close scrutiny over their past record, integrity, academic qualifications and whether they had what it takes to execute their duties if confirmed to their various ministerial dockets.

But what stole the show were the nominees' wealth portfolios with Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action CS nominee Aisha Jumwa emerging as the least endowed with a net worth of Sh100 million.

Prime Cabinet Secretary-designate Musalia Mudavadi outranked his colleagues with his property and investments bringing his net worth to Sh4 billion.

The irony lay in the fact that the Kenya Kwanza government styles itself as a hustler's government with the media aptly describing the nominees as "millionaire hustlers." Before the current vetting, former Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri, who had been nominated as Devolution CS, disclosed in 2015 that his net worth was Sh800 million.

Away from the net worth disclosures, vetting of those nominated as CSs and other top-ranking government officials, including at the counties, is one of the safeguards put in place by the 2010 Constitution as a way of ensuring that the people, through their representatives, have a say in the appointment of those who will preside over their affairs by way of public participation.

Further, the constitutional requirement is supposed to mitigate corruption and abuse of office since in the past some of those appointed into government became instant millionaires.

Mixed bag

However, while the process, which is anchored in the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act has been religiously followed since 2013 when President Uhuru Kenyatta named the first Cabinet under the current Constitution, the performance of those chosen as CSs and Principal Secretaries, among others, has been a mixed bag.

While some such as Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i and his Education counterpart Prof George Magoha will be leaving an exemplary record that they are bound to be missed going forward, there are those who arrived with colourful CVs only to disappoint either because they failed to match their qualifications with performance or were implicated in corruption scandals.

There are some such as Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot who say the vetting process is unnecessarily tedious and would want it done away with altogether.

"This election, vetting and assumption of office procedure is unnecessarily tedious. We voted on the 9th of Aug, 70 days ago. Set up of GOK should be more efficient. We must find ways of hastening this process so that new administrations can get on with what matters most," the Kericho Senator tweeted on Tuesday.

Borrowed model

Vetting of CSs is one of the aspects that the framers of the 2010 Constitution borrowed from the US model as they sought to do away with the opaque nature of public appointments that existed in the old dispensation when ministers served at the pleasure of the President and with no clear criteria on why they deserved the positions.

In the US, for instance, hundreds of senior officials, including 662 executive branch appointments are vetted by the Senate during what is called confirmation hearings before they can take up their roles.

They include Cabinet Secretaries, deputy and assistant secretaries, chief financial officers, general counsel, heads of agencies, ambassadors and other critical leadership positions, according to a past article by the Washington Post.

The only difference is that rather than the vetting being left to a single committee as is the case in Kenya, in the US, the nominees appear before relevant committees before tabling a report before the whole Senate where a simple majority is required.

And if Senator Cheruiyot thinks the entire vetting process is "unnecessarily tedious", the US Senate confirmation hearings can be long and gruelling.

In 2013, for instance, the confirmation of Chuck Hagel as President Barack Obama's Secretary of State lasted eight hours.

While Cheruiyot's concerns are partly legitimate, especially in the Kenyan context where Ruto was forced to fall back on his predecessor's CSs and other officials to keep the government running, it would be a mistake to change the current vetting process. Instead, what is needed is to strengthen it, especially by making financial disclosure more elaborate.

The Committee on Appointments, which is chaired by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula, for instance, has not appeared to be keen on whether the CS nominees pay their taxes, a key requirement for those seeking to hold public office. That way, we will ensure it serves the public good.