House team set to start vetting Cabinet nominees
Parliament expects to start vetting the four nominees to the Cabinet Wednesday morning, Majority Leader Aden Duale has said.
Mr Duale said the President's official communication on his four nominees - Henry Rotich, Amina Mohammed, Fred Matiang’i and James Wainaina- was expected in Parliament Monday night.
The names would then be officially communicated to the National Assembly by Speaker Justin Muturi and then handed over to the Committee on Appointments whose membership was approved on Tuesday.
The public would then have four to seven days to submit their views on the nominees, he said.
“The vetting will be in public,” said Mr Duale.
The Jubilee Coalition has 16 MPs on the 28-member Committee on Appointments while the Coalition on Reforms and Democracy has 10. It has one Independent member. (READ: Jubilee dominates vetting team)
The Deputy Speaker and the leaders of the Majority and Minority parties and their deputies are also members.
The Committee will ask the National Intelligence Service, the Kenya Revenue Authority, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and professional bodies to submit their reports on the suitability of the four nominees.
The Cabinet Secretary in charge of the Treasury needs to present to Parliament the Budget Policy Statement for approval before April 30 and scrutiny by the relevant committee.
MPs had on Monday crowded around television sets in the corridors of Parliament shortly after the end of the day's session to watch President Kenyatta announce his four nominees.
Daniel Maanzo (Makueni, Wiper) said the President needs to move faster and name the entire Cabinet nominees as soon as possible.
Osman Kamama (Tiaty, URP) praised the nomination of Fred Matiang’i, saying he is well versed in Information Technology. Mr Matiang’i previously worked with the State University of New York, which has helped Parliament set up a media centre and supports several other programs.
Kimani Ichungwah (Kikuyu, TNA) said the nominess “reflect meritocracy” and regional balance.
Johnson Sakaja (Nominated, TNA) said President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto had “stayed true to the Jubilee promise” in making the announcement and doing it in the manner they did.
“I think we have seen that things can be done differently,” said Mr Sakaja. “If it takes longer to do things right, that’s a cost Kenyans are willing to take. What the President has done is set a trend that we need to get used to.”
