For the past two days, the Kenya Kwanza faction has been on the receiving end of public criticism after a power-sharing deal that will see Musalia Mudavadi appointed as Prime Cabinet Secretary (PCS) in the event Deputy President William Ruto wins the August 9 polls leaked.
In particular, a section of leaders and Kenyans have hit out at the Ruto-led team for proposing the creation of a Prime Minister-like position which is not anchored in the constitution and one they opposed in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI). The Kenya Kwanza team on the other hand has refuted claims that it was using unorthodox methods to sneak back BBI through the power-sharing deal.
Kenyans.co.ke, after going through the BBI and the deed of agreement establishing Kenya Kwanza alliance, has established that Mudavadi's role will be similar to that of a Prime Minister proposed in the BBI.
Just like the PM position proposed in the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2020, Mudavadi - serving as a Prime Cabinet Secretary - will coordinate various ministerial functions in the event Ruto wins the August polls. In particular, the Kenya Kwanza agreement states that the Interior Cabinet docket shall be moved to Mudavadi's office.
"The functions of the PCS will be to chair and coordinate government legislative agenda across all ministries and state departments in consultation with and for transmission to the coalition's leaders in Parliament," reads the Kenya Kwanza agreement.
"The role of the Prime Minister will be to supervise the execution of the functions of ministries and government departments and chair cabinet committee meetings as assigned by the President," read the BBI Bill.
Additionally, as proposed in the BBI, the appointment of Mudavadi will be done by the President through a Gazette Notice.
The leaked document has seen Ruto get criticised for adopting sections of the BBI document which he viciously opposed.
“That tells you the kind of character we are dealing with, a hypocrite. He is the man who said we do not need BBI, we do not need to create positions [for a few politicians], but now, he is re-inventing BBI through the back door.
"You can fool some people for some time but you cannot fool all the people all the time," Suna East Member of Parliament, Junet Mohamed, stated during a presser on Thursday, May 12.
In a rebuttal, United Democratic Alliance (UDA) chairperson, Johnson Muthama, said Mudavadi's position is not similar to that of a Prime Minister as proposed in the BBI. He argued that Ruto was not a believer of BBI and therefore could not support its contents.
"They are telling Kenyans that we want to bring BBI through the back door and it is wrong. There is no place where Ruto has addressed a public rally and declared that in the set up of government he will form, that there will be a Prime Ministers' position," he stated.
Kenyans.co.ke has also established that the deed of agreement establishing Kenya Kwanza has not dictated that Mudavadi and his Ford Kenya counterpart, Moses Masika Wetangula, must deliver at least 70 per cent of the votes cast in Western Kenya for them to be appointed in the Ruto-led government.
