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The 20 nominees President William Ruto picked for his new-look Cabinet are facing anxious times as MPs sitting in the Appointments Committee burn their midnight oil compiling the report for tabling in Parliament this week.

The committee spent the better part of yesterday scrutinising the draft report submitted to them by the secretariat before making their recommendations on whether to approve all the nominees or not.

Secretariat had retreated to prepare the draft report on Sunday evening after the committee concluded vetting the last batch of the nominees and started working on the report yesterday morning.

Performed poorly

 By last evening, it was understood the committee had issues with some of the nominees who are said to have performed poorly during the vetting while others had a number of issues raised about them.

 Said one of the committee members: “We are meeting to write this report so that hopefully we can table it tomorrow (today) if members agree on it.”

It will not be smooth sailing for some nominees after the Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka directed his MPs to reject the four Opposition leaders who were picked to join the Cabinet.

Addressing a church service in Mwingi North, Kitui county a week ago, Kalonzo said: “I have directed Wiper party MPs that when they come to Parliament for vetting, Wiper members should vote ‘No’.”

 The four include Hassan Joho (Mining and Blue Economy), Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives and MSME Development), John Mbadi (National Treasury) and Opiyo Wandayi who was handed the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum.

The move comes even as some of the nominees engaged in intense lobbying as they sought for support from the MPs.

MPs are expected to make a decision either to support or reject the report of the appointments committee chaired by Speaker Moses Wetang’ula once tabled.

 The committee is expected, pursuant to Section 8 of the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act, 2011, to consider the nominees and table a report in the House within 28 days after the house increased the timelines for consideration from the initial 14 days. During the vetting exercise, the committee was guided by the parliamentary approval act which requires the committee to consider a candidate’s academic credentials, professional training and experience, personal integrity and background.

Memoranda

 Wetang’ula revealed that they received a number of memorandums from Kenyans objecting to the nomination of some of the candidates.

 The vetting exercise comes after Ruto sent packing the entire 21 CS’s and the Attorney General following demonstrations by youths calling themselves Generation Z who were protesting over bad governance.

 Following the move, Ruto last week named the CS’s and forwarded the list to Wetang’ula for onward transmission to members to allow vetting to take place. Out of 22, 20 of the CS’s wealth stands at Sh10.7 billion which is majorly from business ventures.

A majority of the nominees’ wealth as declared before the MPs ranges between Sh200 million to Sh2 billion with those who made a comeback into cabinet having had a growth in their wealth of between Sh50million to Sh 100 million.

 Those who were named include Mbadi,  Kipchumba Murkomen (Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports), Oparanya, Stella Soi Langa’t (Gender, Culture, Arts and Heritage),  Rebecca Miano (Tourism and Wildlife), Wandayi, Justin Muturi (Public Service), Salim Mvurya (Investments, Trade and Industry), Alfred Mutua (Labour and Social Protection), Joho, Kithure Kindiki (Interior and National Administration),  Debra Mulongo Barasa (Health).

 Others are Aden Duale (Environment, Climate Change and Forestry), Davis Chirchir (Roads and Transport), Soipan Tuya (Defence), Eric Muga (Water, Sanitation and Irrigation), Julius Migosi Ogamba (Education), Alice Wahome (Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development), Andrew Karanja (Agriculture and Livestock Development) and Margaret Ndungu (Information, Communication and the Digital Economy).

 The committee is expected on Friday to vet the remaining two nominees including Dorcas Agik Oduor who has been nominated for the position of Attorney General and Beatrice Askul Moe nominated for the position of CS EAC and Regional Development. During the vetting exercise Wetang’ula said that the committee received 74 memoranda against Joho, the highest among the 20 nominees.