President William Ruto may be forced to sack most, if not all, of his advisors if the court deems them to have contravened the Constitution and the limits of his powers.
This is after Lawyer Suyianka Lempaa on Tuesday filed a petition seeking orders for the removal of the ballooning advisors, arguing the positions were unconstitutional and not anchored in law. According to Lempaa, the positions were meant to reward cronies and were not merit-based.
In her petition, the lawyer also questioned the roles of the over 20 advisors, their salaries and the criteria used to appoint them. Recent reports indicated that the wage bill of the advisors stood at close to a billion shillings.
The petition comes amidst growing discontent over Ruto’s burgeoning number of advisors despite a previous pledge by Ruto to prioritise austerity.
Last year, Ruto pledged to cut the number of advisors by half as part of austerity measures in the wake of anti-government protests over the 2024 Finance Bill.
However, just last week, Ruto appointed former Turkana North Member of Parliament (MP) and East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) member Christopher Doye Nakuleu as his new Senior Political Advisor.
His appointment came hot on the heels of the appointment of Raila Odinga's longtime ally and lawyer, Prof Makau Mutua, as the Senior Advisor on Constitutional Affairs. These appointments brought the number of Ruto’s advisors, who stretch across various sectors, to 21.
Ruto's advisors are Makau Mutua (Senior Advisor on Constitutional Affairs), Moses Kuria (Senior Economic Advisor), David Ndii (Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors), Monica Juma (National Security Advisor), Dominic Menjo (Food Security and Animal Production Advisor), Edward Kisiang’ani (Senior Advisor & Member of the Council of Economic Advisors), Joseph Boinnet (Deputy National Security Advisor), and Jaoko Oburu (Special Advisor on Youth Economic Empowerment).
Others are Silvester Kasuku (Governance Advisor), Harriette Chiggai (Advisor on Women’s Rights), Abdi Guliye (Advisor on Livestock and Rangeland Management), Nancy Laibuni (Associate Member of the Council of Economic Advisors), Advisor Kennedy (Ogeto Senior Legal Advisor), and Augustine Cheruiyot (Senior Advisor and Head of the Presidential Economic Secretariat).
Henry Kinyua (Advisor on Food Security), Joe Ager (Advisor on Governance), Karisa Nzai (Political Advisor), Ali Somane (Advisor on Security Affairs in the Office of the National Security), Mohammed Hassan (Advisor in the Council of Economic Advisors) and Steven Otieno (Advisor on Cooperatives) round off the list.
