Will Jacob Kaimenyi be first to be shown the door?

Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi is undergoing a baptism of fire.

The former Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs at the University of Nairobi will on Tuesday appear before Members of Parliament. The meeting will make or break him as the education boss.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has cleared the impeachment motion against Prof Kaimenyi. The motion is sponsored by Matayos MP Geoffrey Odanga.

It will require the support of one-third (at least 117) of the MPs to support it and thereafter the House will form a select committee to investigate the claims made against the cabinet secretary which include alleged arrogance he showed to the education committee of Parliament, scrapping of ranking in exams, and failure to implement the laptops project for Standard One pupils as per the Jubilee pre-election pledge.

Since he took office, Prof Kaimenyi has had a troubled tenure in one of the most powerful ministries in terms of reach and budget allocation which in the financial year that has just begun is Sh154.3 billion.

After his nomination into the position, the cabinet secretary faced obstacles after a man, through an affidavit, told the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments that he is corrupt, arrogant and insensitive.

Mr Anthony Kenneth Mwangi was citing a case involving alleged professional negligence investigated by the Preliminary Inquiry Committee (PIC) of the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board, which Prof Kaimenyi, a dentist, once chaired.

WEATHERED THE STORM

Prof Kaimenyi, who is known to be a stickler for rules which oftentimes set him on a collision course with his former bosses at the University of Nairobi, weathered the storm and his nomination was approved, with the CS promising to improve the failing education standards in the country.

Less than the 100 days in office, he was welcomed by a teachers’ strike to be paid their arrears which were part of a 1997 pay deal that raised their salaries to more than 100 per cent during the Moi regime.

The Education CS, born in 1952 and is married with five children, rubbed teachers the wrong way when he threatened to withhold their salaries over the strike. Although the strike ended, there were different opinions on how the tough-talking professor handled the crisis.

On January 5, teachers went on strike again paralysing learning in public schools after talks between the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education (Kuppet) and the government hit a brick wall.

The three-week strike interrupted the education calendar with the unions filing a joint memorandum on economic dispute claim at the Industrial Court.

As if that is not enough, the much-hyped Jubilee government free laptop project for all children entering primary schools is yet to be implemented.

Teachers again threatened to go on strike over the new rules requiring school heads to be under the direct control of the Education Cabinet secretary. The CS’s decision to gazette the Basic Education Regulations and School Fees Guidelines was interpreted as going overboard.

Led by Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion, teachers have led the onslaught against the CS by asking President Uhuru Kenyatta to sack him.

As if the impending impeachment motion is not enough, the dentistry professor, who is the only cabinet secretary from the entire Meru region, is facing a rebellion in his own backyard following his perceived closeness with Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki and a group of elders led by Mr Phares Rutere and Mzee Paul M’Ethinkia.

The professor was among top government officials who accompanied Prof Kindiki when he was installed as a Njuri Ncheke elder and the Ameru Community spokesman in February at Chiakariga shrines in Tharaka Nithi County.

Mr Ruteere and Mzee M’Ethinkia who are presently entangled in a court battle over the council’s leadership led the ceremony.

In May, the CS found himself in a collision course with the elders after he was summoned by a different faction that replaced Mr Rutere and Mzee M’Ethinkia over controversial remarks he made about the council.

The faction, led by newly- elected chairman Linus Kathera and Secretary-general Josphat Murangiri, said Prof Kaimenyi’s statements had undermined them during Meru Women Representative Florence Kajuju’s thanksgiving ceremony that was attended by Deputy President William Ruto.

In his speech during the event, Prof Kaimenyi had lauded the council’s ousted leadership for leading the community. 

After he failed to honour the summons, the group invoked a “curse” on the professor which was later withdrawn by the Ruteere and M’Ethinkia faction.