Americans went to elections this week, and unlike the last one in 2020, things ended peacefully, albeit in what I would consider a surprise defeat for the liberal left, domiciled within the Democratic Party.
Ultimately, it wasn’t as close as opinion polls had made us believe.
The Republicans easily and swiftly defeated the Democrats, taking control of the Senate, with the House of Representatives still not decided. At the time of penning this, analysts were still trying to figure out how this transition would affect Africa, and especially Kenya, given Donald Trump’s often-rabid right-wing rhetoric.
At first glance, the immediate victims appeared to be the usual global issues that tend to receive liberal support, such as healthcare funding, minority rights advocacy, climate change and immigration.
Closer to home, many waited to see how the William Ruto regime would work with the new Trump administration, given how the Kenyan leader was feted by the Biden White House, and he remains quite cosy with US Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman.
Ruto, having been the first African leader in 16 years to make a state visit to Washington in May this year, had secured mul- tibillion-shilling investments with outgoing US President Joe Biden, in the key sectors of security, education and energy.
Whether Trump will prioritise these is, to say the least, a tall order. Away from US-Kenya bilateral relations, there were immediate local issues for the Kenyan President to grapple with.
After recently and quietly overseen the impeachment of his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, and then swiftly witnessed the swearing-in of his new Deputy President and principal assistant, Kithure Kindiki, Ruto had barely caught his breath when lobbying for Kindiki’s former Interior slot went into over-drive.
And in Kenya’s fast-changing scene, it is possible that a nominee may even be in place by the time you read this! In a real sense, there are two vacant CS slots.
In the intense lobbying for the powerful Interior position, not many can remember that at the advent of the broad-based government, Parliament rejected the nominee for Gender CS, Stella Soi, at her vetting stage.
The position has remained vacant ever since, but obviously, not many people pay attention to it.
In fact, the silence that greeted the rejection of its prospective holder only confirms that within the political realm, the position isn’t considered crucial to regional or national interests.
Back to the vacant Interior post. Various groups want it but one school of thought holds that since former DP Gachagua comes from Nyeri county, and that the elevation of Kindiki from Tharaka Nithi has not mollified the Nyeri people, the powerful Interior post should go to Nyeri for a semblance of fairness.
There is an uncomfortable conversation to be had here. Of the 25 people who make up the Cabinet, inclusive of the President, his deputy and the Secretary to the Cabinet, eight are from the Mt Kenya region.
That accounts for a third of the entire Cabinet.
This disparity, when contrasted with the rest of the country, is partly what fuelled the perception of Gach- agua as a regional lord, pushing Mt Kenya interests above others.
President Ruto is not obligated to appoint someone from the Mt Kenya region, but even if he were inclined to, it wouldn’t send a message of confidence to the rest of the nation that the delicate balancing act needed to cure the destructive Gachagua doctrine is being achieved.
Some of the names being bandied around as potential appointees as the next Interior CS include current Environment CS Aden Duale, a few sitting MPs and Interior PS, Dr Raymond Omollo.
In the case of Duale, I am persuaded that whatever classified reasons led to that odd reshuffle in which the President moved him from the powerful Defence docket to Environment, would still come to play at Interior, being the twin national security docket to Defence.
As for sitting MPs, especially from the Mt Kenya region, political analysts have already widely posited that the President would be totally averse to causing byelections in the region, at a time when the anger towards him over his impeachment of Gachagua is still quite raw.
This, then, rules out perceived front-runners like Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah, who has in declared he is not quite interested in the position as he already carries the mandate of his Kikuyu constituency voters until 2027.
That leaves the current Interior PS, Dr Omollo, in contention, and quite honestly, I don’t understand why that is not a straight shoo-in.
The PS has already served admirably and steadily in the Ministry for two years, including two stints when there was no substantive CS.
They were immediately after Ruto dis-solved Cabinet following the June Gen Z riots, and now. Besides, Dr Omollo has served under Kindiki loyally and with dignity, shunning the controversies prevalent in other ministries, where CSs and PSs are perennially engaged in power struggles.
As I see it, Ruto will be moving to fill the Interior docket at a time when his government and the country are facing numerous challenges, not least the rising threat of terror in the region, banditry in the North Rift and a nagging need for police reforms, occasioned largely by the behaviour of sections of the Kenya Police Service in the past year.
Admittedly, even though political considerations often take precedence over national interests, I believe the President acknowledges the need for a safe pair of hands at the Interior in the coming three years, especially when the chosen individual is already directly loyal to him; his was not an appointment made to assuage tribal demands.
This would be an interesting pick. Even where tribal dynamics are not important, a Dr Omollo choice would be the first time since Independence a member of the Luo community would hold that docket.
President Ruto has already produced the first Luo Chief of Defence Forces and the first Attorney General from the lakeside community, in quick order. Adding the CS Interior would crown a good run for the long-marginalised community, and cement Ruto’s credentials as perhaps the President who, without needing to, extended a hand of friendship to the Nyanza people.
Regardless of how it goes, I am certain that Ruto understands that moving away from the heavy politicking that was the hallmark of Gachagua indeed requires those coming into his reorganised government to be individuals less prone to unending public spectacle, and more dedicated to delivery of government services, perhaps even self-effacing and media-shy.
The President is obviously under no illusion that the next three years are going to be easy. The divisions left by the departure of Gachagua will take time to heal.
He not only needs to unite the country but also ensure his Cabinet is fully behind his policies and aspirations.
This is why the choices of people to fill the two vacant Cabinet positions, Interior and Gender, as well as the rumoured re-organisation of the PS dockets, cannot merely be about regional and tribal considerations, but mostly about how to move forward.
And Ruto has his work totally cut out.
