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South Mugirango Member of Parliament (MP) Sylvanus Osoro has said the reappointed Cabinet Secretaries do not to be vetted again.

In a statement on X, Osoro says an earlier decision by former Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi dictates that only new cabinet appointees will be subjected to vetting.

“The re-appointed CSs do not need to be vetted again, going by JB Muturi’s jurisprudence. They assume office forthwith. For the new ones, the public is invited to submit their reservations with evidence before the National Assembly,” Osoro stated.

Muturi’s jurisprudence

In 2015, Muturi advised Parliament to only vet new Cabinet Secretaries and Permanent Secretaries after former President Uhuru Kenyatta shuffled his cabinet.

In his interpretation of the law, Muturi noted that the President has the power to reorganise his cabinet and that the reassigning of a cabinet secretary to a different position does not require fresh vetting by the National Assembly.

“Articles 152 and 155 allow the president to reassign the Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries, respectively. Interpretations of these provisions is that a person vetted and approved for appointment may be reassigned within the same position,” Muturi said in 2015.

He added, “Any person appointed CS or PS can be reassigned without vetting if they are in the same position. They will therefore require no further approval hearings.”

The decision came after then-Attorney General Githu Muigai advised Parliament against vetting reassigned Cabinet Secretaries afresh, saying the move was against the law.

In 2018, then-Majority leader in Parliament Aden Duale argued that Cabinet and Principal Secretaries moved to other dockets did not require further vetting.

“Serving Cabinet Secretaries have been moved to other ministries or state departments and will not require further approval of the house,” Duale said in 2018.

Dissolved, not reshuffled

However, on July 11, 2024, President William Ruto dissolved his cabinet, only to reappoint six of the fired CSs in his first batch of appointments of 11 cabinet members.

Among those retained in the new cabinet line-up are Defence Cabinet Secretary Duale, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki, Lands CS Alice Wahome, and Environment CS Soipan Tuya.

However, former Energy and Petroleum CS Davis Chirchir has been moved to the Ministry of Roads and Transport, while former Industrialization CS Rebecca Miano has been appointed to be the Attorney General.

The new faces in the first batch of cabinet members are the Ministry of Health’s Debra Mulongo Barasa, the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation’s Eric Muga, the Ministry of Education’s Julius Migosi, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development’s Andrew Karanja, and the Ministry of Information, Communication, and the Digital Economy’s Margaret Ndung’u.