No, thank you, Mr President: Ruto's list of rejected job offers balloons

President William Ruto at Ngarachi Comprehensive School in Laikipia West during the beginning of his tour of the Mt. Kenya region on April 1, 2025. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard] An opportunity to serve the country is ordinarily one taken as an honour. A rare gesture that many hope for but few achieve. It is even more honourable when the President is the appointing authority. However, two years after the President William Ruto administration took over the reins, the list of high-profile individuals who have turned down lucrative state jobs offered by the Head of State continues to grow. An announcement by Duncan Oburu Ojwang that he had declined his nomination to the post of the chairperson of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) yesterday, brought the total number of rejections to job offers by the President to nine. In a growing trend where nominees are apprehensive of appointments to what would otherwise be dream jobs for many, Ojwang notified of his withdrawal just a week after his name was forwarded for vetting. By dint of the rejection, he resuscitated talk of the alleged arbitrary appointments by the Head of State without consultations. Ojwang is a 46-year-old lawyer who had also previously been shortlisted for the position of the member of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). He had appeared before the IEBC selection panel chaired by Nelson Makanda on April 2, 2025. And on Tuesday, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula, in his communication to the House, stated that Ojwang had "respectfully" turned down the offer, citing personal reasons and a potential conflict of interest. "In light of the foregoing, the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs is directed to cease any further consideration of the nominee," said Wetang'ula, who further directed the Clerk of the House to notify the appointing authority immediately. Notably, Ojwang was nominated on August 5, following the passing on of Roseline Odhiambo Odede, who succumbed to a short illness in January. Ojwang had emerged as the best candidate for the position having beaten 16 others who had expressed interest in the position. But a day after his nomination, the Katiba Institute and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) challenged the appointment in court. They argued that appointing a male chairperson while the vice chair is also male violates constitutional provisions on gender equity, specifically the two-thirds gender rule. The petition sought declarations and orders to nullify Ojwang's nomination and compel strict compliance with gender requirements for appointments to independent commissions. It also asked the court to declare invalid any actions taken under an unconstitutional appointment. And as the development now forces President Ruto back to the drawing board to identify another pick, Raymond Nyeris continues to serve as the KNHRC vice chairperson. A peel back of recent events, however, points to similar incidents where the President has been left exposed, with experts raising concerns on the whereabouts of his advisors. Former Kitutu Masaba MP Timothy Bosire refused to chair the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) board in January 2025. Bosire who served as the ODM Treasurer declined President William Ruto's appointment as the non-executive chair of the National Transport and Safety Authority board. Later in a media interview, Bosire explained that he had rejected the appointment after consultation with regards to community interests. "I nevertheless, thank the appointing authority, HE President William Ruto for the appointment but in the circumstances decline the opportunity," he said. According to Bosire, when opportunity arises, one must first consider the interests of the society and the community. Just days earlier, on January 10, it was former ICT Cabinet Secretary Margaret Nyambura Ndung'u who turned down the coveted appointment as High Commissioner to Accra, Ghana. On the day she was supposed to appear before the National Assembly Defense Committee for vetting, Nyambura did not show up and instead wrote to the Belgut MP Nelson Koech-led committee declining her nomination. She cited personal reasons for her decision. "I wish to inform you that I will not appear occasioned by personal and compelling reasons," she wrote through a letter addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly. "To save precious time for the committee, this letter serves as notice that I will not attend." Nyambura's, move to decline the ambassadorial nomination however sparked discontent among President William Ruto's allies. The National Defence committee blamed the Head of Public Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the rejection. Koech blamed the officials of not doing their due diligence when making the nominations. "There are so many Kenyans who are deserving of these appointments. The picking of names of individuals who probably may not have been consulted or have no interest to represent our country is not only an embarrassment to the country but an embarrassment to the President," said the Belgut MP. And before Nyambura's nomination, West Mugirango MP Vincent Mogaka Kemosi had also declined the same Ghana posting in April 2024. In a letter to the Defence committee, he said: "I wish to inform you that I will not appear before the said Committee... This has been occasioned by my personal and compelling family matters." His name was later dropped through a gazette notice by President Ruto through a gazette notice. Other refusals include former nominated Senator Millicent Omanga, who rejected a Nairobi Rivers Commission role in October 2024, and former Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka, who declined to chair the Kenya Animal Genetic Resources Centre the same month. Perhaps most notable was Law Society of Kenya President Faith Odhiambo's rejection of a now-shelved presidential taskforce to audit national debt - a move that sparked questions over whether appointees were consulted beforehand. LSK argued the taskforce was unconstitutional, as public audits are the Auditor-General's mandate. Governance expert Prof Peter Kagwanja said the President must rethink his advisers and consult more before announcing appointments. "His moves ironically seek to address wastage, eg the debt audit taskforce, but will increase the wage bill because they go home with huge allowances," he said. He suggested Ruto's strategy might be to "co-opt rivals" - prompting refusals - or that he was either misled or unwilling to take advice. "The silence by his lieutenants who should be articulating his policy interventions is deafening. They have left the President to face critics alone. A general does not go to the field; he waits for a trophy at home," Kagwanja said.

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