BIG DILEMMA

Ruto cabinet dilemma as Kenyans narrow options

Kenyans dismissed majority of ex CSs backing only three for a comeback

In Summary
  • TIFA poll shows that Kindiki, Owalo and Machogu are amongst Kenyans favourites for reappointment.
  • Ruto has also indicated he will be roping in opposition leaders an other stakeholders.

President William Ruto addressing the nation from the State House on July 11, 2024.
President William Ruto addressing the nation from the State House on July 11, 2024.
Image: PCS

President William Ruto has found himself in a dilemma as he seeks to reconstitute his Cabinet with a recent opinion poll showing Kenyans support retention of three former minsters.

The three are former CS Kithure Kindiki (Interior), Eliud Owalo (ICT) and Ezekiel Machogu (Education).

Tifa says the three former CSs comeback is pegged on their performance.

The head of state is expected to balance many interests, some conflicting, in search of a new team.

“A significant proportion of 40 per cent of Kenyans felt that performing CSs should be re-appointed,” the Trends and Insight For Africa study shows.

The study conducted between July 16 and July 18 was released yesterday.

Ruto said he will co-opt the opposition and other stakeholders in his new, all-inclusive government.

The President dismissed the entire Cabinet only retaining Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi who is currently acting in all the 21 vacant slots.

The President could also also be juggling on whether to reappoint some of his former troops in new Cabinet.

Kindiki polled 61 per cent on the approval ratings followed by Owalo at 48 per cent in a poll that had +/-2.52 per cent margin error.

Machogu came a distance third with 23 per cent rating.

None of the remaining 18 former CSs polled more than five per cent.

Kindiki is credited for silencing guns in most parts of the bandit zones where killing of innocent Kenyans occurred.

He also destroyed a number of al Shabaab terrorist group cells and killed dozens of the extremists.

The former Tharaka Nithi Senator is also hailed for modernising Immigration Department especially on the issuance of passports which was a nighmere.

Owalo on the other hand is praised for giving life to the once little known ICT ministry that has now become the cornerstone of President William Ruto’s digital economy programme.

In the two years, the Ministry of Information, communication and the Digital Economy digitised 17,668 government services and created 152,711 digital jobs to address unemployment.

Digital jobs have been a key plunk in Ruto’s legacy projects that he intends to keep the youth gainfully engaged.

“I want the youths to be using the well-equipped hubs to make money, youths in Nakuru will be able to work remotely and get their payments in dollars,” Ruto said during development tour in Nakuru last week.

The ministry has also established 274 digital hubs across the country complete with 16,804 digital devices.

Owalo’s tenure also saw the start of what was to be the re-engineering of Postal Corporation of Kenya into an e-commerce and logistics hubs as well as rolling out 10,219 kilometres of fibre optic cable.

On Sunday, the President asked the church to pray for him as he starts to choose men and women who will transform the country.

Sources indicate that the new team could be named as early as next week after MPs return from the month long recess.

For Machogu, he presided over the impementation of Ruto's new funding model at a time when the programme faced crticism.

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