Africa-Press – Kenya. President Uhuru Kenyatta is under intense pressure to reorganise his government and kick out allies of his deputy William Ruto as his term enters the home stretch.
Sources tell the Star the President could also relieve top civil servants planning to run for election in what insiders describe as a looming reshuffle.
Uhuru has irretrievably fallen out with his nominal second in command over succession politics.
The duo — previously portrayed as political buddies — are raring for nasty combat as the 2022 presidential duel shapes up.
The government changes, including a Cabinet reshuffle, are said to have been discussed by Uhuru when he met opposition leaders at the Coast on Tuesday.
It has also emerged opposition leaders could have been asked by the President to propose names of their confidants who will take up Cabinet slots in the reshuffle.
Uhuru’s supporters and think tanks say retaining the DP’s allies in the Cabinet and other strategic jobs is not tenable, given the bad blood between him and Ruto.
Sources also said the changes could also claim a prominent member of the National Security Council.
The President on Tuesday held talks at State House, Mombasa, with Raila Odinga (ODM), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Gideon Moi (Kanu) and Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula.
There were reports some leaders were jittery about accepting government jobs, claiming it would encumber them with Jubilee baggage.
But Lugari MP Ayubu Savula, a top-ranking ANC member, said the Mudavadi-led party will “quickly take up the slots” to help the President deliver his legacy.
“If given those slots, Musalia’s allies will accept them to work with the President in the remaining months, after which we shall go all the way to the ballot,” Savula said.
The Lugari MP asked the President to urgently kick out Ruto “moles” from government.
“This is the time the President should reorganise his government to deliver on the last lap of his term,” Savula said.
Some Ruto confidants still occupy plum state jobs, including on the Cabinet.
However, the DP has been contradicting the government, in fact accusing Uhuru of overreacting.
The recent stand-off over Ruto’s travel to Uganda and the arrest of the DP’s Turkish businessman friend Harun Aydin exposed the bitter division in government.
But Uhuru could also kick out several bureaucrats eyeing elective seats.
About six Cabinet Secretaries are eyeing gubernatorial seats and many other principal secretaries and chief administrative secretaries have declared their interest in politics.
On Monday, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati said public officers seeking elective seats next year must resign by February.
“The Commission therefore reminds all public officers who wish to contest in the general election that they must resign six months to the election,” Chebukati told a workshop with the media in Mombasa.
National Assembly Minority leader John Mbadi said a Cabinet reshuffle could have happened long ago. He is ODM chairman.
“I think the President is late. He should have cleaned up his system earlier. Really, you need a functioning government; I don’t think the Cabinet has been functioning. A good number of them have not been supportive of his programmes and have loyalties elsewhere,” Mbadi said.
The Suba South MP said that in running the government, especially the Executive, the President needs total loyalty.
“Ruto has been complaining the President has not been working. Probably this is the time the President should clean up his government,” Mbadi said.
He went on, “He should do it to have a government that does not have divergent loyalties.”
As public servants eyeing elective politics must quit by February 9, Uhuru’s allies say a reshuffle too close to a general election would not have any political impact.
Former Kajiado West MP Moses Ole Sakuda said the President has no business working with people with divided loyalty in his own government following Ruto’s rebellion.
“It is no longer tenable to work with people who do not believe in the President’s vision. As the President enters the last stretch, a reshuffle would be necessary,” he told The Star.
The politician said the President, who is racing against time to deliver on his pledges and mandate, cannot afford to be distracted by endless politicking in his administration.
But Mbadi said ODM is not interested in who gets into the Cabinet so long as those appointed are qualified, “whether they subscribe to ODM or not”.
“We have been complaining about inclusivity in government, we felt the appointments the two have been making were leaving out almost half of Kenya’s population. My view is that anybody can be in government,” he said.
On Wednesday, Ruto’s allies termed any reshuffle inconsequential and a waste of time, saying the country is already hurtling toward the general election.
Mathira MP Nderitu Gachagua, a key Ruto ally from Mt Kenya, even claimed the DP’s Cabinet allies “no longer pick his calls”, allegedly on instructions from the President.
“We are not bothered because even the DP’s allies in the government and Cabinet do not pick his calls. They stopped that upon instructions by the President himself and even if they are kicked out that does not bother us,” Gachagua said
The MP insisted the DP’s Tangatanga camp will not be shaken at all if the President decides to reorganise his Cabinet as “We are no longer part of that.”
“We were kicked out of government, we are just spectators and whatever the President does with his government is none of our business. We are focused on winning the presidency next year under the UDA party,” he said.
Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, another Ruto stalwart from the President’s Central Kenya region, stated any Cabinet changes will be a waste of time and unhelpful.
“Trying to reorganise government at this time will be nonsensical and retrogressive, especially when hounding people out of the Cabinet based on their political allegiance,” Kuria said.
The lawmaker, who is also the leader of Chama Cha Kazi, said some past reshuffles have largely been political and well-choreographed to punish some people.
“For example, we moved Chris Kiptoo, one of the best trade specialists we have in this country, from the ministry of Trade to Environment. Tell the logic behind that if it’s not political,” Kuria said.
ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna said a Cabinet reshuffle is the President’s prerogative.
“Our expectations were never to get into government,” he said. “There is no pressure on the President from the ODM side to put our people in government. Our focus is to form the new government.”
(Edited by V. Graham)
