Parliament to vet Ruto CS, State nominee next year

The National Assembly will start vetting President William Ruto’s recent nominees to the position of Cabinet Secretaries and other senior government officials on January 9 2025.

A notice from the Clerk of the National Assembly Samuel Njoroge shows that the vetting for Cabinet Secretaries will be done on January 14 by the committee on appointments, vetting for ambassador, high commissioner and diplomatic representatives will be done on January 10 by the Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations while nominees for the Public Service Commission will be vetted by the Departmental Committee on Labour on January 9.

The vetting exercise, the Clerk says is being done pursuant to Article 118(1)(b) of the Constitution and section 6(4) of the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act (Cap. 7F), that empowers committees to conduct approval hearings.

Reads the notice: “And whereas, following receipt of the nominations from H.E. the President, the Hon. Speaker of the National Assembly vide a Notification issued on Friday.

December 2024 conveyed the Messages to the Members of the National Assembly and referred the names and curriculum vitae of the nominees to the Committee on Appointments; the Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations; and the Departmental Committee on Labour for consideration and reporting to the House.”

In compliance with Article 118(1)(b) of the Constitution and section 6(9) of the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act (Cap. 7F), Njoroge asked members of the public to submit any representations they may have, by way of written statements on oath (affidavits) with supporting evidence contesting the suitability of the candidates for appointment to the offices they have been nominated to.

Approval hearings

Further he asked the nominees are required to appear for the approval hearings with their original identity cards, academic and professional certificates and other relevant testimonials; and Obtain letters/certificates of compliance from Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) and Credit Reference Bureau (CRB).

Says Njoroge: “The memoranda may be forwarded to the Clerk of the National Assembly, P.O. Box 41842-00100, Nairobi; hand-delivered to the Office of the Clerk, Main Parliament Buildings, Nairobi; or emailed to cna@parliament.go.ke to be received on or before 3rd January 2025 by 5.00p.m.”

The vetting exercise comes after Ruto submitted the names to the National assembly for vetting after he nominated them for various positions as part of his ongoing efforts to strengthen leadership in vital sectors of government.

The nominations come as part of a wider reshuffle aimed at optimizing service delivery and driving the administration’s ambitious Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).

Reads the notice: “Whereas in accordance with Articles 132 (2) (e), 152(2), and 250 (2) of the Constitution, H.E. the President is empowered to nominate, and with the approval of the National Assembly, appoint Cabinet Secretaries; ambassadors, high commissioners, and diplomatic and consular representatives; and chairpersons and members of Commissions.”

Among the CS nominees who will be vetted on January 14 include Agriculture and Livestock nominee Mutahi Kagwe who is scheduled to appear at noon, followed by ICT nominee William Kabogo at 3:00 p.m., and Investments, Trade and Industry nominee Lee Kinyanjui at 5:00 p.m.

Those to be vetted by the departmental committee on defence, intelligence and foreign relations are Margaret Nyambura Ndung’u who was nominated as High Commissioner to Ghana, former Sports minister Ababu Namwamba who will represent Kenya as Permanent Representative to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) / United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), Dorothy Angote who has been nominated High Commissioner to Zimbabwe and Dr Andrew Karanja who will serve as Ambassador to Brazil.

The departmental committee on labour will vet former Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi who has been appointed as chairperson of the Board of Directors, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) who will serve as Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Kenya Rural Roads Authority and Kembi Gitura who was appointed as Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital.