Kathiani Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Mbui says lawmakers now face their own acid test as they return to the House to vet President William Ruto’s first batch of new Cabinet nominees.
The National Assembly begins its sittings on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, after nearly a month of recess.
The 349 MPs went for a recess beginning June 28, 2024, following the conclusion of budget-related activities by the House.
Speaking during an interview on a local TV station on Monday, July 22, 2024, Kathiani MP Robert Mbui said the first business in Parliament for the MPs would be to vet Ruto’s Cabinet nominees.
However, Mbui noted that MPs have already received warnings from Kenyans not to recycle Ruto’s Cabinet nominees who have been re-appointed to the positions they held or reshuffled.
“We are going into the house and one of the first things that we will be dealing with, because this issue of the Gen Zs is still at the forefront of everything in the country and all politics, and the first thing I think we will be doing is vetting these nominees that the president has given out.
“We have already received warnings, just like when we were debating the Finance Bill – all of us got messages from our constituents and from the youthful generation in Kenya and they were telling us do not support this. We’ve already started receiving those kind of sentiments telling us that you know we were very clear that we don’t want people to be recycled,” Mbui said.
The Kathiani MP fingered Ruto for mocking the Kenyan youth by re-appointing the same people to Cabinet positions.
“When the president dismissed the Cabinet then it meant that he had shown no confidence in any of them. By giving a list that still has the same individuals, some of whom by the way are part of the reason why they were these revolts by the youth.
“The honourable Professor Kindiki who was CS Interior and is proposed to go back to the same docket was in office when our youth were killed like rabbits in the streets, over 40 of them were killed in just the recent past and these people were unarmed, you know these were people who were walking around with phones, bottles of water to wash their faces when they get teargassed, you know the flag of the republic of Kenya and over 40 of them were killed, innocent souls.
“The only thing they did was to follow the constitution of Kenya 2010 that says you can demonstrate, you can picket, you can present petitions. They came to Parliament to present a petition they were killed like wild animals and the person overseeing that docket comes back again to the same docket, I mean that’s an insult to the youth of Kenya,” Mbui lamented.
Don’t repeat same mistake
The Kathiani MP called on his colleagues in the National Assembly not to make the same mistake by just rubber-stamping Ruto’s nominees.
He implored MPs to look at things through different lenses based on the times that Kenyans are living at the moment.
“I believe the Members of Parliament will now start debating with reason and with logic, not the way we were before we went on recess,” he said.
President William Ruto’s release of some nominees’ names last week set the stage for scrutiny of their competence.
The new nominees have triggered public outrage, especially after Ruto picked six nominees from the previous Cabinet that he sacked after sustained street demonstrations.
Gen Z wants all CSs out and they will closely monitor the MPs to see if they will hear their cry for a grand housecleaning or if they will once again follow Ruto’s lead like the majority did with Finance Bill 2024.
The MPs were the targets of protesters for their passage of Ruto’s widely reviled proposed tax laws in the now-abandoned Finance Bill 2024.
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, who chairs the powerful Committee on Appointments that is charged with vetting the nominees, is expected to inform the House of the individuals nominated for Cabinet positions.
Already, Gen Z, whose nonstop protests pushed the President to sack the previous Cabinet, threatened countrywide protests this week.
