At least four petitions have been filed in Parliament seeking to have Cabinet nominee Ali Hassan Joho disqualified for lack of proper academic qualifications.

In one petition, lawyer Charles Okari, has requested information regarding the academic qualifications of Joho, the nominee for Cabinet Secretary of Mining and Blue Economy.

Citing Article 35 (1) (a) of the Constitution and Section 7 (c) of the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act 2011 in his letter to National Assembly Clerk Samuel Njoroge, lawyer Okari writes that “we hereby seek that you provide the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Certificate belonging to Hon Hassan Ali Joho or recognized equivalent to you and any other academic qualification presented to yourselves regarding the nominee”.

The vetting of Ruto’s 20 nominees starts tomorrow and runs until Sunday, after which the Committee on Appointments will table a report before the House for consideration.

Past record

In another memorandum to the Committee on Appointments, a human rights body is seeking to have Joho declared ineligible for the position of CS owing to his past record.

In 2010, then US ambassador Michael Ranneberger announced travel sanctions on Kenyan politicians suspected in drug trafficking, including former MPs Harun Mwau, Gideon Mbuvi, Hassan Joho and William Kabogo. The four were revealed as targets in a US drugs probe.

The Kenyan government also confirmed receiving the names from the US embassy after the late Internal Security Minister George Saitoti tabled the list in Parliament.

The People’s Movement for Human Rights, through its director Karanja Murai, says he is contesting the nomination of Joho as CS based on this information.

“The dossier tabled by Saitoti stated that Kenya’s Anti Narcotic Unit suspected Hon Joho was involved in the narcotics trade. According to the report, Joho was connected to drug trafficking,” Murai writes.

He urges the Appointments Committee to consider the report in vetting Joho, claiming the nominee has a tainted past and does not stand by the principles of the Leadership and Integrity Act.

ODM nominees

By yesterday, the clerk’s office had received over 500 memoranda from Kenyans contesting the nominations of some of the individuals.

Four nominees from the Orange Democratic Movement party – John Mbadi, Wycliffe Oparanya, Opiyo Wandayi, and Joho – face another obstacle, after their own coalition disowned them and asked their members not to vote for them.

Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka directed members of his party to reject the appointment of the nominees. The party has two members on the committee – Robert Mbui and Stephen Mule.

Another committee member, Caleb Amisi (Saboti) of ODM, has also denounced the inclusion of his colleagues on the list and vowed to reject their nominations.

Kalonzo told members of his party not to approve the appointment of the four ODM nominees when they appear in Parliament for vetting later this week.

“Those four names, when they come to Parliament for vetting, Wiper members should vote ‘No’,” Kalonzo told Wiper legislators in Mwingi, Kitui County, last weekend.

Kalonzo questioned how the four nominees would work in a government that they had strongly opposed on the grounds of oppressing Kenyans.

Six retained

President William Ruto started forming what he called a new broad-based Cabinet on July 19 by nominating the first batch of 11 Cabinet Secretaries.

Ruto retained six of the 22 ministers who served in his previous Cabinet and named five new ones, whose names were late presented to the National Assembly for considerations

 Those who served in the previous Cabinet are Kithure Kindiki (Interior and National Administration); Aden Duale (Defence); Alice Wahome (Lands, Public Works, Urban Development and Housing); Soipan Tuya (Environment, Climate Change and Forestry); and Davis Chirchir (Roads and Transport).