President William Ruto has 'temporarily' abandoned the push for Chief Administrative Secretary jobs.
A proposed law to anchor the position has been deferred in unclear circumstances, with no timeline for reconsideration.
Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wah slammed the brakes on the National Government Administration Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023. He took action just when MPs were to make amendments following an intense debate, in which some lawmakers vehemently opposed the proposed CAS posts.
The bill was to salvage the court decision which nullified the CAS positions, which President Ruto handed largely as consolation prizes to 2022 poll losers.
Following this setback, President Ruto’s bid to create a powerful Head of Public Service and Chief of Staff has also been put on the back burner.
While presiding over a sitting of the National Assembly [March 21], Gilgil MP Martha Wangari announced the Bill would be prosecuted later.
“The Leader of the Majority Party has asked the Speaker to step it [the Bill] down and the request has been acceded to,” she said.
This was despite Speaker Moses Wetang’ula having ruled a day before that the proposed law was properly before the House.
President Ruto has handed other government jobs and roles to eight of his 50 CAS nominees.
Former Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali who was to be Roads CAS was recently appointed chairperson of the Tourism Regulatory Authority board.
Former Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi has been nominated as Kenya’s ambassador to Uganda. He was to be Foreign Affairs CAS.
Ex-West Mugirango MP Vincent Kemosi was to be Trade CAS but is headed to Accra while former Kisumu Senator Fred Outa was to be CAS for the Blue Economy but is headed to Cairo.
Former Baringo Speaker David Kerich was nominated as Ambassador to the US. He was to be CAS for Mining while Lilian Tomitom, who was to be Trade CAS, is headed to Lusaka, Zambia.
Sunya Ore, who was to be Water CAS, has been named Kenya’s deputy head of mission in Pretoria.
Government spokesman Isaac Mwaura had also been appointed CAS in the office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary.
The Star has reliably established that some of Kenya Kwanza’s top guns concluded that the proposed post(s) remained a costly and unnecessary ‘hot potato’.
Issues include not only salaries but also daily operations.
“The issue of cost has come up in many of our engagements on this matter,” a nominee intimated to the Star on Sunday.
SRC, when it scrutinised the legislation, said the 50 individuals would cost taxpayers Sh468 million in salaries alone every year.
The halted House process could dash the hopes of dozens of the President’s allies who got the jobs before the judicial thunder.
Among the big names still in the cold are former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, Millicent Omanga, Cate Waruguru, Dennis Itumbi, Chris Wamalwa, Wilson Sossion, Nicholas Gumbo, and Mary Seneta.
The lot was already sworn in and was about to start work when the courts ruled the CAS posts unconstitutional. Some had already reported to their offices.
The CAS bill has not been free of intrigues, most recently the hasty retreat by MPs to remove the cap of 22 appointees they had recommended.
For starters, the proposed law was disowned by Attorney General Justin Muturi. Further revelations were that it was yet to be ratified by Cabinet.
Despite the indications of the Bill's imminent ultimate flop, Ichung'wah said it still has a life in the House.
"The Bill is before parliament and getting through the legislative processes and the stages any bill has to go through," Ichung'wah said with no commitment to the timelines.
Several stakeholders including Azimio and lobby group Mzelendo Trust raised issues with the position.
But even if the Bill is enacted, the courts made a declaration that establishment of 50 CAS positions was unconstitutional.
A three-judge bench said it was illogical to have 50 CASs deputise 22 Cabinet Secretaries, posing a headache to the appointing authority in striking a balance.
The court said the office is similar to that of assistant minister in the old order cannot be created haphazardly.
Azimio troops raised constitutional issues concerning the Bill, including the establishment of the office of the Head of Public Service.
Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi [Minority leader] told the Star on Sunday it would be in the country’s best interest to drop the radical proposals.
“These two offices, as contemplated in the Bill, are outright unconstitutional. I recently urged the House that it could not and should not proceed to process the Bill as was crafted,” he said.
In the debate, Wandayi said the National Assembly was setting itself up for litigation – if had it passed the proposed law.
“You already know what the verdict will be without my pre-empting it. If this Bill goes to any court, it will be declared unconstitutional.”
“Why should we waste our time and that of taxpayers deliberating issues which are clearly unconstitutional?” he asked.
Azimio also held that the legislative piece sought to create the office of the Head of Public Service outside the Constitution.
The opposition said office’s functions were akin to that of the Secretary to the Cabinet, saying the only cure is to amend the Constitution.
“We are being invited to create some kind of mongrel or office that will superintend a constitutional office,” Wandayi said.
Nyando MP Jared Okello said, “I know there are people who campaigned for UDA or Kenya Kwanza and are angling for jobs. But let us do things according to the dictates of our laws so we don’t overreach and hence face embarrassment in our courts of law.”
Tharaka MP Gitonga Murugara, whose Justice committee considered the Bill, said they cured all the legal loopholes at the committee stage.
He said they have not referred to the holders as state officers and that their functions were redefined to make them Cabinet Secretary Assistants.
“We have not provided whatsoever that they are in between Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries. There is no mention of the Principal Secretary in the provisions we are talking about.”
“There is no provision whatsoever that a CAS is going to administer a State department, whether assigned by the Cabinet Secretary or otherwise,” Murugara said before the matter was withdrawn.
In a dissenting opinion, Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo – a member of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee – said the proposal offends the spirit of the Constitution.
“Kenyans intended to do away with the position of assistant ministers …even the courts pronounced itself on the constitutionality of the office of CAS,” he said.
Among other controversial proposals in the Bill were to make the Head of Public Service custodian of the public seal.
“The architecture of the Constitution places the Public Service Commission as the Head of Public Service. It places clear boundaries between the Executive (political and transitory) and the Public Service (permanent and non-political).”
He argued that introducing a [new] Head of Public service undermines the office of Secretary to the Cabinet, restating that it is the one recognised by the Constitution.
The proposal was, however, dropped, as was the bid to make the President’s National Security Adviser part of the committee that organizes a new president’s assumption of office.