The decision to approve President William Ruto's cabinet nominees was marred with intense lobbying and a voting exercise, according to members of the Committee on Appointments.
Speaking on Citizen TV on Tuesday, October 26, the deputy leader of the minority and Kathiani MP, Robert Mbui, revealed that the committee led by National Assembly speaker, Moses Wetangula, voted on which nominees to approve and reject.
Mbui stated that all the members agreed that the Tourism CS nominee, Peninah Malonza, was unfit to manage the docket given her interview performance.
"It wasn’t just Malonza that we felt was not qualified, there were others, but when it came to voting, there were those with more votes than others.
"She ended up failing from both sides of the house. At the end of the day it was a matter of competence," he stated.
The lawmaker also divulged that some of the nominees scored highly as compared to others during the voting exercise amidst a stalemate on the nomination of Aisha Jumwa (Public Service) and Mithika Linturi (Agriculture).
Additionally, various reports indicated that Wetangula was forced to intervene in the stalemate as he advised Azimio legislators to file their own report dissenting to the approval of the two.
According to Wetangula, the minority side was within the Parliamentary Standing Orders in rejecting the Committee's report.
Azimio MPs thus tabled their own report, arguing that Linturi and Aisha Jumwa have active court cases.
On the other hand, the decision by the committee to reject Malonza's nomination split Kenya Kwanza as a section of its lawmakers argued that she was judged unfairly by the committee.
"This Malonza, who everybody agreed to drop her name, has not contravened Chapter 6 of the Constitution on Leadership and Integrity and has not been in court for the last three years, yet there are people who have court cases and have integrity issues," Githunguri MP, Gathoni Wamuchomba lamented.
However, Mbui expressed that Malonza may be approved by Parliament despite the committee advising against the same, citing 2013 when a rejected cabinet nominee was approved by the lawmakers.
"Just like 2013 when Phyllis Jepkosgei Kipkingor-Kandie's Nomination to the EAC docket was rejected on the ground over her inability to understand the docket, the committee was whipped and overturned their decision and approved her," he stated.
