Today, some Kenyans are excited while others are disillusioned. Those who are thrilled are elated simply because finally the long waited Cabinet line-up of the Grand Coalition Government will be formally announced to the public this afternoon.
They are ecstatic because the country was in some of sort of limbo and tension was slowly being seen to be building.
They are ecstatic because the country was in some of sort of limbo and tension was slowly being seen to be building.
The agreement of forming a Cabinet comes as a relief to this group of ecstatic Kenyans because it ends the two-week stalemate over the naming of the Coalition Government.
The group that is disenchanted is dejected because they strongly believe that a bloated 40-member Cabinet is far from what the Kenyan taxpayers can afford to fund.
In addition, they don’t think that it was worth the price the country paid for losing 1,000 souls, damaged hundreds of millions of shillings worth of property and dislocating hundreds of thousands of fellow Kenyans.
The chairman of Federation of Kenya Employers Patrick Obath in opposing a bloated Cabinet noted: “Lean must be lean, and that is what we mean. Our stand is that 20 ministers are more than enough to run the ministries.”
With 40-member Cabinet, President Mwai Kibaki-led ‘government/PNU’ side of the Grand Coalition has twenty Cabinet seats and one deputy premier position to fill.
On the other hand, Prime Minister-designate Raila Odinga-led Orange Democratic Movement also has the same number of Cabinet posts to fill.
It has been an open secret that the party’s DPM slot is a reserve of the one time Vice President Musalia Mudavadi. Other than reorganising his “existing mini-Cabinet” it is unlikely that Kibaki will drop any of the seventeen individuals the Head of State already named prior to the agreement reached with ODM.
And as such the President only needs to select three more individuals and one tough pick for his side’s deputy Prime Minister’s slot. As for the faction’s three Cabinet positions, it is very likely that Kibaki will give two spots to the Government/PNU’s major partner in their "coalition within-a-coalition" ODM-Kenya as a reward for standing with him during his hour of need.
According to media speculation, two Ukambani lawmakers, Mutula Kilonzo and David Musila are the expected beneficiaries of these two Cabinet positions to be given to their party.
The two close associates of Kalonzo Musyoka are predictably the Vice President’s first choice for appointments. The other Cabinet spot will probably be given to the Meru sub-group people as their reward for their massive voter support they gave the President.
In short the three Cabinet positions will likely end up in Eastern Province.
If the DPM were to be given to a Mt Kenya individual which is highly unlikely, then it will go to another onetime but long serving Vice President and the President’s closest confident George Saitoti.
Otherwise Kibaki could heed the advice of Kiraitu Murungi and spring a surprise by naming someone outside the Mt Kenya political orbit and shock everyone.
The biggest test lies on Raila. The Prime Minister-designate challenge is that of satisfying everyone in his political organisation. It will indeed be the time where ODM supporters will have the chance to see the true colours of “Agwambo.”
The challenge is not only how many ministers a tribe, region or a province will be given, but which ministries in the measure of importance and influence they will get.
For instance, will Raila name Sally Kosgei and Henry Kosgey to the Cabinet, taking into consideration that the duo hail from the same district? Will the premier-designate appoint his elder brother to the Cabinet?
How many Luos will make up the 20-member Cabinet slots for his side and which strategic dockets will they be given? Now there are questions the Coast and the North Eastern provinces’ people should have for their ODM party leadership.
How many individuals would the two provinces each have in the ODM side of the Cabinet? What kind of Cabinet portfolios will they be given? President Kibaki has two Coast MPs and one North Eastern serving in his Cabinet assuming the President retains his seventeen-member original Cabinet which is highly expected.
In addition, the same three ministers double up to Kibaki having three Muslims serving in his Cabinet. Here again separately, the Muslims ought to ask the same questions to Raila and Najib Balala as to how many Muslims apart from Balala will be named to the Cabinet.
One key appointment where the Coast people ought to watch carefully is on the assumption that transport docket belongs to ODM. So will Raila appoint a fellow Luo to this docket aiming at KPA to reverse the good work done by the docket’s predecessor?
Will the new person have specific instructions to fire the current KPA boss Abdalla Mwaruwa and name a fellow tribesman as the ports new chief executive officer in order to bring more Luos to the seaside major employer.
Boldly speaking, I am not in support of the bloated Cabinet, but then again if it is the price Kenyans have to pay for peace, tranquility and development then it is indeed a very small price.
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SUNDAY TIMES
April 6, 2008
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