- The committee rejected Stella Lang’at as the nominee for the Gender Ministry saying she failed to demonstrate adequate understanding of the docket.
- Majority leader Kimani Ichung'wah said she failed to demonstrate adequate knowledge of topical, administrative and technical issues.
Image: PCS
President William Ruto will on Thursday morning witness the swearing-in of 19 Cabinet Secretary nominees he picked to head various ministries.
The 19 will be sworn-in at State House, Nairobi from 9am, a media invite by Press Secretary Emmanuel Talam shows.
The event will come just hours after the National Assembly approved a report tabled in the House by the Committee on Appointments on approval of Ruto’s Cabinet nominees.
The committee endorsed 19 of the 20 nominees put forward by the President.
The committee said it rejected Ruto's nomination of Stella Lang’at as the nominee for the Gender Ministry as she failed to demonstrate adequate understanding of the docket.
Those approved are Kindiki Kithure (Interior); Dr Deborah Barasa (Health); Alice Wahome (Lands); Julius Ogamba (Education); Soipan Tuya (Defence); Andrew Muhia (Agriculture); Aden Duale (Environment); Mureithi Muga (Water); Davis Chirchir (Roads) and Margaret Nyambura (ICT).
Others are John Mbadi (National Treasury); Salim Mvurya (Trade); Rebecca Miano (Tourism); Opiyo Wandayi (Energy); Kipchumba Murkomen (Youth Affairs); Hassan Joho (Mining); Alfred Mutua (Labour and Social Protection); Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives); and Justin Muturi (Public Service).
While tabling the report, National Assembly Majority leader Kimani Ichung'wah said Langat failed to demonstrate to the committee her knowledge of the docket she was nominated to head.
"Stella Soi Langat is a career civil servant who has extensive experience in public service but did not demonstrate an adequate understanding of the Gender docket to which she has been nominated and the committee saw her unsuitable for appointment to that docket," Ichung'wah said.
"The nominee failed to demonstrate adequate knowledge of topical, administrative and technical issues touching on the Ministry of Gender, Culture, Arts and Heritage to which she has been nominated."
Ruto assembled the new team after a series of youth-led protests staged in June to denounce the introduction of new taxes via the Finance Bill, 2024.
The lot popularly known as Gen Z filed on the streets in their numbers demanding for better governance and accountability on the side of state officials amid claims of opulance among some Cabinet members in the face of rising cost of living and public debt.
On June 11, Ruto gave in to pressure and disbanded his entire Cabinet save for Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi and instituted a raft of austerity measures to cut government expenditure.
The President, however, nominated 10 of the 21 ex-CSs in the new team.
These are Kindiki, Duale, Murkomen, Mutua, Mvurya, Wahome, Chirchir, Tuya, Miano and Muturi (ex-AG).
He said their track records had demonstrated that they had done their jobs well.