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NAIROBI, Kenya | Xinhua | Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday nominated the first batch of 11 cabinet secretaries, marking the start of forming a “broad-based” government.
The president reappointed four cabinet secretaries to their previous ministries of Interior and National Administration; the Defense; Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development; and Environment, Climate Change, and Forestry.
Ruto, who has been under pressure to reduce opulence and waste in his government, however, reassigned former Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Davis Chirchir to the Ministry of Roads and Transport which was previously held by his key ally Kipchumba Murkomen.
He also appointed former Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade, and Industry Rebecca Miano to the position of attorney general, while there are some new entrants to the Cabinet tasked with Ministries of Education; Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation; Information Communications and the Digital Economy; Health; Agriculture and Livestock Development.
The nominees are subject to consideration and approval by the National Assembly before their official appointment.
“I have started the process of forming a new, broad-based cabinet to assist me in driving the urgently needed and irreversible transformation of our country,” Ruto told a news conference in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
The president said he will next week issue a clear roadmap on the assignment that the new Cabinet is going to have, with clear timelines and deliverables for the country to harness the tremendous potential that exists in the nation and drive the country to greatness.
Ruto said he is continuing consultations across the political divide on the balance of the Cabinet he will soon appoint.
“The consultations are at an advanced stage, and internal processes in various sectors are underway to facilitate my appointment of the balance of this Cabinet,” he added.
Ruto also said that while the events of the past month have caused tremendous anxiety, concern, and uncertainty, the crisis has presented him with a great opportunity, as a nation, to craft a broad-based and inclusive citizen coalition for national transformation and progress, made up of Kenyans from all walks of life.
“It cannot be denied that our nation has been in a crisis caused by multiple and complex factors. Neither can we turn away from recognizing that the opportunity before us is greater than the crisis,” Ruto said.
The president was forced to dissolve almost his entire Cabinet last week after young protesters staged anti-government demonstrations across the country in June against a wide range of unpopular tax increases contained in the Finance Bill 2024 that has since been withdrawn.
The bill was seeking to raise an additional 346.7 billion shillings (about 2.7 billion U.S. dollars) through new taxes.
The protesters expressed outrage over provisions of the bill that would raise taxes on goods and services that many people depend on, such as bread, and on mobile money transfers, to meet the government’s revenue targets.
The Gen-Z protesters had been demanding accountability in government, saying there is a lot of opulence and wastage in government spending.
At least 50 people were killed and hundreds more injured during the anti-tax hike protests across Kenya in June and July, according to the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. ■
