Called “urgent and important” by Harper’s magazine, Michela Wrong’s book on graft whistle blower John Githongo, It’s Our Turn to Eat is reviewed as a nonfiction political thriller of modern Kenya—an eye-opening account of tribal rivalries, pervasive graft, and the rising anger of a prospect-less youth that exemplifies an African dilemma.

This probably aptly sums up the start of the usual journey of the gravy train yesterday when a cabal of millionaires wormed their way into Cabinet amidst protests  by brave young Kenyans speaking truth power, demanding good governance, clean government and access to opportunity from an insensitive and opulent political elite keen to rob them their future.

After bowing to public pressure to reconstitute his Cabinet, President Ruto has warned that public officers who misappropriate public funds will be surcharged.

Though he rode on the backs of the poor to gain power, President Ruto has been accused of  recruiting millionare politicians into his new Cabinet.

Some of them fought corruption allegations while others faced questions over links to drug money.

However, a Parliament that has been a gleeful servant of the Executive conspired to approve the nominees who were swiftly sworn in at the break of dawn yesterday amidst murmurs that the President was recycling old bad manners and rewarding regional political kingpins and old guards for self-preservation.

The   Cabinet nominees were sworn  under the shadow of lingering concerns on whether the President was paying lip-service to the war against corruption and the demands for integrity in public service.

At an early morning  coronation ceremony in at State House, Nairobi, the President acknowledged that many public officials had fallen short of the constitutional standard for public officers, as laid out in Article 10 and Chapters 6 and 12 of the Constitution.

The law, he said, was clear public officers are servants of the people, and the totality of their actions and conduct must reflect this fundamental principle and the highest standard of integrity required of public office.

“To enhance accountability and promote responsibility for the use of public resources, we shall introduce measures to levy a surcharge against any accounting officer or other public officer who has, by their actions or omissions, occasioned loss of public resources,” Ruto warned.

Addressing the 19 Cabinet Secretaries after they took their oath of office, Ruto said the government will proceed to take unprecedented steps to accelerate the delivery of the national economic transformation agenda with integrity, efficiency, transparency and inclusivity.

Ruto told the new team accountability and the fight against corruption will be key to his administration’s objectives going forward. “We believe that our war on corruption will be significantly boosted by measures to make it easier and safer for citizens and whistleblowers to come forward and report corruption and economic crimes.”

For this reason, he added, the reconstituted Cabinet will consider relevant amendments to the Witness Protection Act to enhance appropriate incentives.

Enhancing accountability

He said he had spoken with parliamentary leaders with a view to expediting the enactment of the Conflict of Interest Bill and expressed his determination to sign a robust, effective instrument into law.

He told the ministers that to enhance accountability and promote responsibility for the use of public resources, measures to levy a surcharge against errant accounting officers or other public officers will be introduced.

“To eliminate the ‘ghost worker’ payroll fraud at all levels of government, we shall also implement a Unified Personal Identification system for all personnel working across all the arms of government, including constitutional commissions,” Ruto said.

The Cabinet will also introduce a legal and institutional framework for mandatory and continuous vetting of all public officers. The same framework will provide a repository of wealth declarations across the government under one office.

“In addition, we shall facilitate expeditious investigation and prosecution of all offences related to corruption and economic crimes through amendment of the relevant statutes, including the Evidence Act and the Criminal Procedure Code, and provide for their determination within six months,” Ruto added.

The ceremony was witnessed by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, Chief of Defence Forces George Kahariri, Solicitor General Shadrack Mose and others.

Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei, assisted by Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau, administered the oath to the appointees.