Ruto's Cabinet: Missing Names, New Entries & Retainees From Uhuru's Govt

The names of men and women that will serve in the Cabinet had all manner of mixed reactions, especially since some of them raised eyebrows among Kenyans

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Sep 28, 2022 - 07:28
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Ruto's Cabinet: Missing Names, New Entries & Retainees From Uhuru's Govt
President William Ruto with Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and newly appointed Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi. /WILLIAM RUTO

President William Ruto on Tuesday, September 27 unveiled his new look Cabinet during a televised address at State House in Nairobi after days of nervous wait.

The names of men and women that will serve in the Cabinet had all manner of mixed reactions, especially since some of them raised eyebrows among Kenyans while others are being mentioned for the first time in mainstream leadership circles.

In addition, two Cabinet Secretaries (CS) who served in former President Uhuru Kenyatta's government were retained in Ruto's administration. 

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta's Cabinet Secretaries at President William Ruto's first Cabinet meeting. /VIRALTEAKE

Viral Tea takes a look at the retainees, new entries and surprise names missing from the 22-person Cabinet:

Those kept from Uhuru's administration

Ambassador Monica Juma

Juma was appointed to serve as an advisor to the National Security Council (NSC), having served in different capacities in Uhuru's government. She was first appointed as the CS for foreign affairs in 2018 before replacing Raychelle Omamo two years later as the CS for Defence before being appointed to head the Energy docket in 2021.

Earlier this year, she withdrew her candidature from the race for the secretary general position of the Commonwealth citing division.

Simon Chelugui

He was appointed as the CS for Cooperatives, having served as CS for Water in Kenyatta's government before being transferred to the Labour and Social Protection docket. 

The University of Nairobi (UoN) alumni has over 20 years of experience in technical policies, policy formulation and corporate governance. He is also a recipient of the Elder of the Golden Heart (EGH), awarded for exemplary service and stewardship.

Ababu Namwamba

Ruto also retained Namwamba, but promoted him to the CS for Sports, having served as Foreign Affairs Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS).

Namwamba has the sensitive responsibility of streamlining Kenya's ailing sports sector with Kenya serving a ban from international football by the world football governing body FIFA.

He will also be tasked with maintaining Kenya's international image in the sporting world, given that it welcomed back the World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally for instance in 2021, after almost 20 years out in the cold.

New names

Eliud Owalo

Ruto nominated Eliud Owalo, a former strategist of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, as ICT cabinet secretary. He will take over from outgoing CS Joe Mucheru at the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT).

Owalo served as Raila's campaign manager before he dumped him in 2019 to join Amani National Congress (ANC) headed by Musalia Mudavadi. A year later, Owalo ditched ANC citing the need to allow its party leader to make decisions and supported Ruto's State House bid.

At UDA, he was promoted to the position of deputy secretary general in charge of strategy, serving second in command to the party's secretary general, Veronica Maina.

Njuguna Ndung'u

The former Central Bank of Kenya governor will be tasked with heading the National Treasury docket. He is an Associate Professor of economics at the University of Nairobi and served as Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya from March 2007 to March 2015, the first CBK governor who has completed two 4-year terms.

Before he was appointed CBK Governor, Professor Ndung’u was the Director of Training at the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). He has had extensive research and teaching work in various fields of economics, including macroeconomics, microeconomics, econometrics, and poverty reduction.

In 2019, he served on the advisory board of the annual Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), co-chaired by Thomas Piketty and Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Susan Nakhumicha Wafula

Ruto appointed Nakhumicha to be in charge of the Ministry of Health, taking over from outgoing CS Mutahi Kagwe, who became a national icon owing to the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the country from 2020.

Newly appointed Health CS Susan Wafula. /TWITTER

Wafula is a seasoned supply chain professional with more than 15 years of global and multicultural experience in agile and intelligent supply chains and operations in the healthcare industry. She has worked at many healthcare firms such as Kenya Medical Supplies Agency, AAR Healthcare, Nairobi Women’s Hospital and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), which is one of the world's leading health sciences universities.

“I can deliver supply chain objectives transforming procurement and logistics operations with strategic goals to achieve profitability.

"I am continuously pursuing professional development opportunities for career growth and performance excellence. I aspire to be a global leader in supply chain management and consultancy,” reads an excerpt of her profile on LinkedIn.

Ezekiel Machogu

Former Nyaribari Masaba MP Ezekiel Machogu will take over from outgoing CS George Magoha at the Ministry of Education if his nomination is approved by the National Assembly. He had been a career civil servant before being elected to the National Assembly in 2017.

Machogu served as a district officer from 1976 to 1979 and a district commissioner from 1989 to 2008. From 2008 to 2016, he served as a senior deputy secretary in the Public Service Commission before joining the National Assembly in 2017 to represent Nyaribari Masaba.

He did his O-Levels at Nduru High School and proceeded to Agoro Sare High School for his A-Levels. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nairobi.

"Thank you president William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua for appointing me as the Cabinet Secretary for Education," he stated after being appointed to the role.

Machogu will be expected to continue from where Magoha left off. His predecessor is credited for the introduction of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and curbing exam leakages during his tenure as the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) CEO.

One of Machogu's key first assignments is streamlining the CBC curriculum which has been causing parents, teachers and other stakeholders nightmares. Its task force is yet to be formed.

Rebecca Miano

Miano was named as Cabinet Secretary for the East African Community (EAC), joining several women Ruto named in his cabinet, despite not meeting the 50 per cent promise to them.

She currently serves as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen), a position she has held since October 2017.

"She is focused on growing KenGen’s footprint in geothermal development across Africa, and under her leadership, the company has successfully implemented several large geothermal projects in the continent," KenGen describes her achievement.

Miano also founded the Pink Energy forum in KenGen to address female and gender parity to close the gap within the company.

The holder of the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS) will be tasked with forging partnerships with other East African communities, from discussing and overseeing policies on enabling the free movement of goods, people, labour, services and capital from one state to another.

Other new entries are Environment's Soipan Tuya, Zachariah Njeru (Lands and Housing), Peninah Malonza (Tourism), Florence Florence Bore (Labour and Social Protection) Harriet Kigai (Advisor on women's rights) and Mercy Wanjao (Secretary to the Cabinet).

Surprise missing names

Najib Balala

Notably, the biggest name that missed out was former Tourism Cabinet Secretary, Najib Balala, given that he was the first CS in Uhuru's cabinet to warm up to Ruto since his election as President.

According to Nandi Senator Kiprotich Cherargei, the president awarded those footsoldiers who stood by him throughout his journey to State House. Despite serving in the same position for 12 years since 2008, his name was not featured in the lineup.

“H.E Ruto has rewarded loyalty, commitment, and passion to serve his government and the people. The hustler cabinet is going to be transformative, people-centred, and revolutionary.

Former Tourism CS Najib Balala with Naomi Campbell will be Magical Kenya's International Tourism Ambassador. /TWITTER.MAGICAL KENYA

“The fixing of the ailing economy has just begun in earnest. Najib Balala Murife just run!” Cherargei clowned Balala with the now-viral Murife meme.

Touted as one of the best economists of the modern generation, Ndii was left out of Ruto's Cabinet appointees, despite his integral role in conceptualizing and explaining the bottom-up economic model.

He has defended Kenya Kwanza on several occasions through social media and on TV and his expertise in economics led to many believing that he would land a role in Ruto's Cabinet, but to no avail.

Other big names left out included former Makueni governor, Kivutha Kibwana who decamped from Azimio la Umoja to join Kenya Kwanza after the elections, alongside former Meru governor, Kiraitu Murungi. 

A number of loyalists to the Head of State including former Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala and ex-Laikipia Woman Representative Cate Waruguru were not considered for cabinet roles, though they could be considered for Principal Secretaries and Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS) of the various ministries.

Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, a close ally of President Ruto, was also left out of the list despite even travelling with his delegation to America. However, Nyoro was understood to have retained his role as a lawmaker as taking up a CS role would cost him his seat.

The Director General of Ruto’s campaign secretary, Josphat Nanok and former KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion were also left out as well as Hassan Omar and Okoth Obado. 

The Cabinet consists of 22 members that will also include the head of state, his deputy, Gachagua, Attorney General nominee, Justin Muturi and Prime Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi.

Read the full list of Cabinet Secretaries appointed by Ruto here

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