I don't want Cabinet post: Senator Gideon Moi

Baringo Senator Gideon Moi has no intentions of joining President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Cabinet, he has said.

There had been widespread speculation for days linking the senator to a Cabinet appointment.

SERVICE

Mr Moi, who spoke on Tuesday at Parliament Buildings moments after he was elected the chairman of the Senate committee on Information, Communication and Technology, said he was better off serving his people as senator.

“I have not been offered one [Cabinet position] and if I was offered, I would not take it. I am better off serving the people in my current capacity,” said Mr Moi, the leader of independence party Kanu.

Prompted on whether he has a list of individuals he wants considered to the Cabinet, he said: “I am like you, I have no role. I wake up and read about them in the media just like you do.”

APPOINTMENTS

Last Friday, President Kenyatta retained six out of the 20 Cabinet Secretaries, who served in the first term of his administration.

He also named three others for consideration as Cabinet Secretaries to deliver Jubilee’s agenda in the next five years.

There have been fears in Deputy President William Ruto’s camp that the Baringo Senator would strike a deal with President Kenyatta to appoint him to Cabinet.

In the run-up to the 2017 presidential election campaigns, Mr Moi openly said that he was comfortable working with President Kenyatta and not his running mate Mr Ruto.

LIST

Former Bomet MP Nick Salat, Mr Moi’s key ally, had added salt to the DP’s fears by announcing in his now popular catchphrase, that Kanu would be “ndaaani ndaaani ndaaani ya Jubilee”, loosely translated to mean that Kanu would be part of President Kenyatta’s government after elections.

Mr Moi, who had been rumoured to join Nasa leader Raila Odinga, would later come out to support President Kenyatta.

Mr Salat revealed that Kanu had sent some names to the president for consideration to Cabinet, though he did not give details.

“Kanu is not one person. It is true some names were forwarded to the president but that does not mean that Moi’s name was on the list,” Mr Salat told the Nation on Tuesday.

Asked if his name is among those in the list and whether the president would consider them considering the pre-election agreement Kanu had with Jubilee, he said: “The decision is not ours.”

“We forwarded the names, whether they are considered or not, that is the prerogative of the president,” said Mr Salat.

2022 ELECTION

West Pokot Senator Mr Samuel Poghisio, a Kanu member, lauded his party chairman on his move not to join the Cabinet and urged him to prepare for the 2022 presidential election.

“He is serious when he says that he will not take up a Cabinet slot. He knows that he is an elected senator and he needs to discharge his mandate as an MP,” Mr Poghisio said.

“Being a CS is not the same as being a senator because it means leaving active politics to concentrate on Cabinet duties; leaving his position as a party leader, which would effectively mean being out of touch with politics, a key requirement for 2022 politics. With that, I think he made the right decision.”

Both Mr Ruto and Mr Moi are battling to control the Rift Valley vote and whoever gets the nod would have an advantage in the 2022 presidential election.