House teams begin vetting Principal Secretary nominees

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto with nominees for Principal Secretary positions when they unveiled them to the public at State House.  [Photo: Tabitha Otwori/Standard]

By Allan Kisia

Nairobi, Kenya: MPs will today (Monday) start to vet 26 nominees for Principal Secretary positions.

Clerk of National Assembly Justin Bundi has since invited the public to submit affidavits on the suitability of the nominees.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries has three nominees, while Devolution and Planning, Education Science and Technology, Transport and Infrastructure, Environment, Water and Mineral Resources, East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism and Interior and Coordination of National Government dockets have two nominees each.

The list of nominees was tabled in Parliament last week with Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi directing that vetting be conducted from June 17 to 19 by various parliamentary committees.

Muturi directed the 11 committees to conclude the vetting by Wednesday and table a report in Parliament by Thursday.

Three of the nominees were candidates in the March 4 General Election. John Konchella and Joseph Musuni Tiampati contested the gubernatorial seat in Narok County on a Kanu and Kenya National Congress tickets respectively.

Colletta Suda resigned as Gender Secretary to contest Migori Senate seat on ODM ticket.

Five nominees are likely to have it rough during the vetting process and when the list comes up for debate in Parliament, owing to the fact that they had not been shortlisted for final interviews by Public Service Commission (PSC) chaired by Prof Margaret Kobia.

The five – Mutea Iringo (Interior and Coordination of National Government), Fred Segor (Health), Tiampati (Information and Communication), Karanja Kibicho (Foreign Affairs) and Konchella (Devolution) had not been shortlisted by PSC but were picked for the position contrary to the law.

Majority of them had applied for the positions when PSC extended the window for those interested to seek the posts in what raised issues with claims that President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were keen on bringing on board some of those who had lost in elections.

Extension of the application window kicked off a storm with PSC being accused of flouting the law.

The other nominees are Dr Kamau Thugge (Treasury), James Tekoo Mokoyotang (Ministry of Water), Nduva Muli (Transport), John Mosonik (Infrastructure), Sicily Kariuki (Agriculture), Monica Juma (Defence) and Khadija Kassachoon (Ministry of Livestock), Patrick Omutia (Sports Culture and Art), Ibrahim Mohamed (Commerce and Tourism), Joseph Njoroge (Energy and Petroleum), Sicily Kariuki (Agriculture), Belio Kipsang (Education), Wilson Wesonga (Industrialisation and Enterprise Development), and Mariamu Maawy (Lands).

Others are Peter Oganga (Planning), Richard Ekai (Mining), Eng John Kipng’entich Mosonik (Infrastructure), Joseph Lopoyetum (Water) and Suda (Science and Technology).

Three of the nominees — Kibicho, Iringo and Ntiba — were Permanent Secretaries under former President Kibaki’s administration.

Departmental Committee on Lands will vet Maawy while committee on Finance, Planning and Trade will vet Songa, Konchella, Thugge, Mohamed and Oganga.

Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security will vet Mukobe and Iringo while committee on Energy, Communication and Information will vet Njoroge and Tiampati.