With Gachagua’s exit, CSs reshuffle was imminent

The murmurs had been swirling immediately after the meeting between President William Ruto and his predecessor, the fourth president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta at the latter’s Ichaweri home, Gatundu South constituency.

Away from the official statements released by the press teams of the two presidents, the main point of discussion, PD Wikendi was made to understand, was the need for, in political parlance, “more inclusion” in the Kenya Kwanza government.

In that spirit, the fourth president was “requested” to forward some names.

In conversations with Kenya Kwanza insiders, the name of Mutahi Kagwe, the former Health Minister in the Kenyatta administration, kept cropping up.

Also on State House insiders’ lips was the name of Lee Kinyanjui, the former Nakuru governor who, at Uhuru’s behest, spearheaded Raila Odinga’s presidential campaigns in the Mt. Kenya diaspora counties of Nakuru and Nyandarua during the 2022 General Elections.

Another name which kept on surfacing in the reshuffle talk was that of Kipchumba Murkomen, the Sports Cabinet Secretary.

Murmurs about Murkomen’s planned elevation to the Interior Security docket was the talk among influential Rift Valley operatives in the Kenya Kwanza government.

Whereas in the public eye, the youthful former Elgeyo Marakwet senator had been among those accused of openly flaunting their opulence as the majority of Kenyans wallowed in poverty, Kenya Kwanza power brokers were quick to point out his achievements during his short stint at the Sports Ministry, chief among them fixing the mess at the Football Kenya Federation by weeding out the incompetent Nick Mwendwa administration.

William Kabogo factor

Come Thursday and this came to pass. Among those named to the Cabinet were key Uhuru loyalists led by Kagwe (Agriculture and Livestock Development), Kinyanjui (Investment, Trade and Industry).

Through his appointment, Kagwe made history as the first personality from the Mt Kenya to serve under three different Presidents. Kagwe, first served as a Cabinet minister in charge of ICT in the Kibaki government between 2005 and 2007.

His second stint in the Cabinet came only eleven days before Covid-19 hit Kenya (2020-2022), when Uhuru tapped him to lead the Ministry of Health. His latest appointment to serve in the Ruto government comes at a time when the country is going through unprecedented socio-politico-economic challenges post-Covid 19, and after the July Gen Zs protests.

Also appointed to the Cabinet but outside the Uhuru circles was former Kiambu governor William Gitau Kabogo (Information and Digital Economy). Other Uhuru loyalists also appointed to chair the boards of key government agencies include former Laikipia governor Ndiritu Murithi, who will now head the board of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and former Murang’a senator Kembi Gitura, Chair, KU Teaching and referral Hospital). To create room for the Uhuru allies, some sacrifices needed to be made.

The casualties included Dr Andrew Karanja, who had held the Agriculture docket for less than five months, and his ICT counterpart Margaret Ndung’u. They were relegated to ambassadorial positions in Brazil and Ghana respectively.

Interviews with well placed sources at State House revealed that Karanja was a victim of political intrigues in Kiambu county. The sources revealed that majority of the MPs from the county felt he was a hireling of National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa, with Gatundu South MP Gabriel Kagombe famously remarking that he had “never heard of him.”

The reasoning among the MPs was that to effectively counter the discontent in the county occasioned by the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, a strong personality such as Kabogo was needed.

To create room for Kinyanjui, Nakuru-botn Margaret Ndung’u had to be sacrificed. It is instructive to note that Ndung’u, according to insiders, had been fronted to the Cabinet by current Nakuru governor Susan Kihika to assuage the region following the sacking of former CS Zack Njeru who hailed from the region. It is therefore telling that Ndung’u’s replacement was Kinyanjui, who Kihika defeated in the 2022 election.

Besides his achievements at the Sports ministry, including the tendering of initial 37 sports academies out of 290 and his campaign for accountability in federations that had started bearing fruits, Murkomen was also the beneficiary of serious lobbying from the Rift Valley elite who felt that despite occupying the presidency, the Kalenjin community was “under-represented” in the 21-member Cabinet with only Murkomen and his Transport and Roads counterpart, Davis Chirchir. This was after the dropping of former CSs Simon Chelugui and Florence Bore. The discontent, PD Wikendi learnt, was growing, especially in Baringo county which feels it deserved one Cabinet slot.

To assuage the growing discontent, Murkomen had to be elevated to the influential Interior docket left vacant by current Deputy President Kithure Kindiki. President Ruto moved Salim Mvurya from the ICT docket to replace Murkomen at the Sports docket.
Also plucked from political oblivion, but to a lesser position of Permanent Representative to United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), was former Sports CS Ababu Namwamba.

One time Permanent Secretary in the Mwai Kibaki administration, Dorothy Angote, was appointed to head the Kenyan mission in Harare, Zimbabwe.

While critics were quick to criticise president Ruto for entrenching the culture of using Cabinet slots to reward political loyalty at the expense of more qualified technocrats, his supporters feel the latest reshuffle will go a long towards consolidating his support across the country, and especially in the increasingly restless Mt Kenya angered by Gachagua’s impeachment.

It was not lost to political observers that the latest nominees to the Cabinet, besides being Uhuru’s allies, also represented the face of the Mt Kenya and its diaspora with Kagwe, who hails from Gachagua’s Nyeri backyard, Kabogo from Kiambu county and Kinyanjui from the Mt Kenya diaspora whose headquarters is Nakuru county.

With the President having an eye on the populous Mt Kenya bloc that backed him in 2022, Kagwe will be expected to spearhead the President’s political agenda in the region, alongside others like DP Dr Kithure Kindiki. Kagwe, albeit has a better name and face recognition and appeal than any of his peers. Further, having worked under Kibaki and Uhuru who both hail from the region, with both former presidents long remembered for their achievements, Kagwe is meant to give the assurance to the restive region that Ruto means well and has their interests at heart.

With Uhuru and before that, Opposition leader Raila Odinga’s allies including John Mbadi (Treasury), Opiyo Wandayi (Energy), Ali Hassan Joho (Mining and Blue Economy) and Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives) firmly in government, the president’s loyalists believe Ruto has galvanised the nation firmly behind him.