The year 2015 was a turbulent year in the Office of the Deputy President William Ruto when senior officials in his government walked out of his Harambee House Annex office in Nairobi.
The most key among the high profile departures was James Nyoro, a Senior Food Security and Climate Change Advisor to the Presidency based in Ruto's office and Yale University academic Prof Hino Hiroyuki.
According to the Deputy President's website in 2014, Hino was a Senior Advisor in his office before his abrupt departure from the post, after which he consequently left the country.
With speculations rife after his exit, the deputy president's spokesperson David Mugonyi moved to clear the air stating that the don had left the DP's office after his mandate with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) came to an end.
The move by Mugonyi was necessitated by rumors doing rounds that the aide had left due to a difficult working atmosphere with the Deputy President.
Hino's first forays in the country were recorded in 2008 when the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) sent him to act in the capacity of economic advisor for a two-year stay to provide assistance to the newly created Office of the Prime Minister.
The Duke University website, where Hino is a visiting scholar, indicated that Hino acted in that capacity for 4 years (2009–2013) and then took up the role of a Senior Advisor to the Presidency of Kenya for Strategic Initiatives and Economy (2013–2015), where he was attached to the Office of the Deputy President.
Business Daily reported in September 2017 that DP Ruto tapped Hino to return in the capacity of an economic adviser, but the former advisor already had other commitments.
This move to recall Hino forced new proposals in Parliament that sought to have the appointments of new advisors to be done by the Public Service Commission (PSC), which would also be mandated to set their salaries and perks.
This was in opposition to the previous provision that involved the president and his deputy picking their own advisors who were then paid by the taxpayers.
The publication reported that two top executives had 20 special advisers by the end of 2014, some 18 months in power, working full time. Those advisors included political, agriculture and food security, regional integration, legal affairs and education advisers.
