Every few months, President Uhuru Kenyatta embarks on reshuffling his cabinet and in some extreme cases, some ministers end up on the chopping block.
Six Cabinet Secretaries, each with their own set of qualities stand out from the fold, having served alongside the president for a record eight years since he took up office.
Out of the 21 CS slots available in the President Uhuru's administration, only these six leaders have served for as long as the Head of State.
Some, like Interior CS Fred Matiang'i, have ended up earning the Super CS tag, while others have seen their tenure muddled with controversies.
Below are six of the long-serving cabinet secretaries in President Uhuru Kenyatta's government:
1. Fred Matiang'i
Before becoming President Uhuru's Mr fix it, Matiang'i served in the lofty position of the director of the Kenya Parliamentary Support Programme.
He was named as the CS for Information Communication and Technology in April 2013. The pragmatic leader was brought in to oversee the rollout of the e-government service.
His time at the Ministry of ICT saw robust changes especially after he spearheaded the great media migration from analogue to digital.
He was then moved to the Education Docket and tasked with cleaning up the infamous cartels that had been grabbing national headlines for supplying national exam materials before their due date.
In 2016, the country recorded a sharp drop in A (Plain) grades that stood at only 141 unlike previous years which saw thousands getting straight As.
He was later transferred to the Interior Ministry where he continues to streamline the police service in the fight against corruption as well as insecurity.
2. Amina Mohammed
In 2013, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Amina to the Foreign Affairs and International Trade docket in which she steered the country's diplomatic agenda.
She was the first woman to lead the prestigious ministry.
CS Amina was then moved to the Education Ministry where she had a troubled reign, with most of her projects shot down in one way or another.
Her bid to lower the entry grade to D for teachers training colleges was blocked by the High Court.
Currently, she heads the Sports docket with pundits arguing that she was the most unlikely candidate to be handed the ministry.
3. Najib Balala
Kenya's Tourism industry has been ranked among the most adversely affected since the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Notably, CS Najib Balala has been at the helm of this ministry for a record two times.
He was the minister at the ministry between 2008-2012, under former President Mwai Kibaki's regime and was re-appointed to head it in 2015, a position he holds to date.
In between, the minister held a position as the Cabinet Secretary for Mining (2013-2015) in which he engineered the penning of the Draft Mining Bill in 2014, the first policy and institutional framework review of Kenya’s mining sector since 1940.
4. James Macharia
Often regarded as the richest member of President Uhuru's Cabinet, CS James Macharia started his career in the cabinet in 2013 when he took over the Health Ministry.
In 2015, Macharia was moved to the Transport Ministry following Engineer Michael Kamau's ouster,
5. Raychelle Omamo
In 2013, CS Raychelle Omamo made history after she became the first female CS to take on the powerful Defence Ministry.
The CS was appointed to the position by the president following her "substantial contribution to advancement to the rule of law in Kenya and to the development of legislation and policy."
At the time, Uhuru explained that he allocated the docket to the Omamo because it proved that men and women deserve equal opportunities.
In January 2020, she was assigned the Foreign Affairs Docket, which was at the time held by CS Monica Juma, who the took up her previous office.
Notably, while appearing before a Parliamentary Committee in February, Omamo was tongue-tied regarding the nationality of the occupants of a plane that had touched down from China, just as fear sprout over the possible spread of Covid-19 virus.
6. Adan Mohammed
In 2013, CS Adan Mohammed walked away from his plum position as the Barclays Bank manager to assume his role as the Cabinet Secretary for Industrialization.
At the time, he was tasked with overseeing tax breaks/holidays for young people to encourage them to initiate start-up businesses.
In 2018, the CS was transferred to the East African Affairs docket.
Pundits, at the time, argued that the transfer of Mohamed was an indication of Uhuru's commitment to clean up and seal loopholes in the country’s industrialization and business sector.
