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The fate of three Cabinet Secretaries who resigned from their political seats hangs in the balance following President Willian Ruto’s decision to fire them from office.

Cabinet Secretaries Aden Duale (Defence), Alice Wahome (Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban) and Kipchumba Murkomen (Roads, Transport, and Public Works) were forced to resign after Ruto appointed them as CSs in 2022 following his victory in the August 2022 general election.

 The three are some of the close allies of Ruto who paid the price during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration for being loyal to Ruto when he served as the then Deputy President.

During his tenure as DP, Ruto was isolated from government after Uhuru declared his support for opposition leader Raila Odinga as his preferred presidential candidate.

 Ruto yesterday announced that he had fired his entire cabinet as part of the re-organisation of his government following the two weeks’ protest by the Generation Z.

“I have decided to dismiss with immediate effect all cabinet secretaries and Attorney General of the Cabinet of Kenya except the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs,” Ruto said.

 Duale, who had been elected as the Garissa township MP for the third time also served as the National Assembly Majority Leader in the 12th Parliament for eight years until 2020 when he was axed and his position given to former Kipipiri MP Amos Kimunya.

 He was the first person to occupy the seat after the constitution was promulgated in 2010.

 Duale was ousted from his position due to his perceived divided loyalty and because he could not be trusted to sit at the Jubilee Party National Executive Counsel (NEC) that was chaired by Uhuru.

 His ouster followed a petition from more than 130 MPs who accused him of sabotaging the Jubilee agenda.

Said Duale on the floor of the house in his exit speech:

 “As I go to the Executive arm of government, I promise to work with members here. If any one of you wants my help, please do not hesitate to visit my office. I will make time for you, you will not wait…unless, of course, if you become too frequent and make it difficult for me to do my job.”

Uhuru administration

Wahome who had been elected as Kandara MP for a third term was appointed into cabinet for her loyalty to Ruto during the Uhuru administration.

During her term as MP, she fell out with Uhuru accusing him of abuse of power and cruelty to Kenyans.

 She also accused Uhuru of succession politics saying that it was a plot to hold power beyond 2022 after his tenure comes to an end in August this year.

 “He has succeeded in capturing, compromising and weaponising the state institutions especially police and the prosecutorial services of the Office of Director of Public Prosecution,” she said.

Reason for removal

 Murkomen who served as Elgeyo Marakwet senator and leader of majority in the senate also fell out with Uhuru over his loyalty to ruto.

 Having served as a senator for ten years, he was removed as majority leader after 20 senators who attended a parliamentary Group meeting chaired by Uhuru resolved to have him removed and was replaced by West Pokot senator Samuel Phogisiu.

In his exit speech as MP, Murkomen claimed that the reason for his removal was not only because of his political reasons but also because of his opposition to the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) taking over Nairobi County responsibilities as proposed by Uhuru.

 He told senators when he bid them goodbye: “I’m standing here with mixed feelings because the Senate has been home for 10 years. It is not for me to tell Kenyans whether I left a legacy or not, it is for historians to write about my responsibility in this House,” he said.