After the court decision proclaiming William Samuel Ruto's cabinet and administrative secretaries to be in violation of our constitution, many people and a great deal of analysis have tried to explain the implications of this shocking decision to Kenyans. This is due to the widespread belief among Kenyans that the judiciary and the government are currently experiencing a honeymoon unheard of in Kenyan history, and their expectation that the court will continue to predictably side with the executive. In violation of what our constitution requires, they are sharing a bed.
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Therefore, long-suffering Kenyans are wondering if this could be a political game of sorts. Are we witnessing some sort of staged drama, after which something will occur and everything will return to normal as expected?
So let's start this analysis right away. I believe that in order to comprehend the present CAS situation, we must first recall a very intriguing drama that took place in our nation in the middle of 2007.
It happened toward the end of Mwai Kibaki's first term in office.
The late Kalembe Ndile, an assistant minister of tourism and wildlife at the time, made a comment that rocked Kenyans to their very core. In a nutshell, he told Kenyans that assistant ministers in the country were receiving huge salaries despite doing very little. Indeed they were mostly idle.
In reality, Hon. Ndile was pleading with the government to give him work in the statement because he had no work as an assistant minister and had to utilize his assistant minister office to carry out his parliamentary duties. His constituents for instance, visited him there, and he felt very guilty about it.
While some people have a conscience, others don't. Kalembe Ndile, however, was one of those who was unable to handle it and spoke as a result.
Since 1963 until 2007, I had been wondering why no assistant minister had admitted to being idle. Even opposition MPs, when multiparty was introduced, became assistant ministers and kept quiet.
This unmistakably speaks to the conscience of Kenya's lawmakers on both sides of the political divide.
Today's Cabinet administrative secretaries are the assistant ministers of old, and I'm about to reveal something that will shock most.
Realistically, those who deputize cabinet ministers cannot have any work to do because of how the Kenyan government operates. In many cases, even a full cabinet minister must struggle to stay in the loop of what is occurring below them at the permanent secretary level.
Does an assistant minister or someone filling in for a minister have any hope of being informed, let alone having work to do, if a cabinet minister struggles to stay on top of some of the goings-on?
Now, we've heard a lot of stories in the past about permanent secretaries having more authority than full-cabinet ministers in certain dockets. The late Hezekiah Oyugi, a PS in the interior ministry under the Moi Administration, is the best example of this.
Kenyans have long been captivated at the whispers that entire cabinet ministers would kneel down before Oyugi, begging for favors.
You know, a lot relies on the delicateness of the matter and how much the president in authority trusts the cabinet minister.
In comparison to his full cabinet minister, Moi had far greater faith in Oyugi, a non-politician. Another extremely significant hint is right there. At the time, all of the cabinet ministers were politicians, and the president was fully aware of the "DNA" of politicians and how quickly they could betray their trust. As opposed to a bureaucrat like a dependable permanent secretary who is not involved in politics and is not seeking any political favors.
So, while the cabinet minister was unaware of what was happening, Moi would send instructions directly to his PS.
We can use the egregious assassination of George Saitoti as an illustration here.
It goes without saying that there are some documents that would have needed to be signed and information that would have passed within his docket that had something to do with this planned helicopter crash (if indeed it is true that George Satoti was bumped off by the government.)
Nevertheless, although serving as a cabinet minister, he remained unaware of the threats to his life. Who then carried out the signing, authorizing, and coordination?
The PS, of course, who was his junior.
Naturally, the assistant Minister would not have been involved in this.
And that is the reality of the way government actually functions.
Now, those who created our 2010 Constitution already knew a great deal of this knowledge, so they recognized—to put it politely—that the position of assistant minister or deputy to the cabinet minister was not required.
So they did away with that position, which begs the question: what did this position serve before?
The answer; to reward politicians that helped the president gain power.
Directly speaking, it is corruption. You place people in positions so thay they collect enormous government salaries for doing nothing.
In order to assure that anyone nominated to any position would have plenty of work to do, the building bridges initiative (BBI) made a very energetic effort to address this issue. Because those who created the BBA were aware of the realities of politics: as president, you must reward your allies, but not at the price of the taxpayer, BBI architects decided. The BBI had this noble aim, but the Kenyans trashed it instead. The same individuals who vandalized it are now facing consequences.
William Samoei Ruto is in difficulties because he is currently in a situation where the BBI's passage would have tremendously benefited him. Ruto's efforts and significant financial support of the BBI-killing campaign prevented it from happening, and as a result, he is currently suffering severely.
To be clear, the position of cabinet administrative secretary is very unconstitutional per the spirit of our constitution. Given that it was actually eliminated by the 2010 constitution, it shouldn't be there. It is a position that benefits chubby, wealthy, and greedy politicians at the expense of the general public. In actuality, it rewards the politician while punishing the taxpayer.
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