Six Cabinet Secretaries who retained their positions in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s appointments on Friday will not be vetted, according to National Assembly majority leader Aden Duale.
Speaking during a presser at his residence on Saturday, Mr Duale maintained that according to the 20111 Parliamentary Act on public appointments the six did not require fresh vetting from the House.
He further compared the Kenyan scenario with other international jurisdictions like the US where President Obama retained defense secretary from the Bush administration.
“In 2012 when Obama was re-elected for the second term, more than five of his cabinet were reappointed and never went through a fresh vetting,” Duale stated.
[caption caption="National Assembly majority leader Aden Duale"]
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“In our case, because the six had undergone vetting once and are still holding the same portfolio, they will not be vetted,” he added.
The Garissa Township lawmaker affirmed that only the fresh CS nominees will be vetted starting from next week by the relevant parliamentary committees.
He further clarified that parliament would not be recalled for “mere reading of the names of the new appointees”.
“Parliament in the last session passed a motion exempting the speaker from recalling the house for merely reading and conveying the President’s message to the house and sending the names to the respective committees,” Duale remarked.
The CSs who were retained include Dr.Fred Matiang’i (Interior & Ag. Education), Charles Keter (Energy), Joe Mucheru (ICT).
[caption caption="President Uhuru, DP Ruto and House Majority leader Aden Duale"]
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Additionally, the list also had Najib Balala (Tourism), Henry Rotich (Treasury) and James Macharia (Infrastructure) – were retained whereas 13 of their colleagues were dropped when President Uhuru named his partial cabinet.
