President William Ruto has appointed 51 Principals Secretaries (PSs), including some political bigwigs who lost elections in the 2022 General Election.
In the list that was shared by State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed, the names of Jonathan Mueke (Sports) and Nixon Korir (Physical Planning) were prominently featured.
“President William Ruto nominates Principal Secretaries and sends the list to the National Assembly for consideration and approval,” Hussein Mohamed wrote on Twitter.
Mueke, who conceded defeat in Kitui Gubernatorial race and promised to continue doing everything within his ability to work for Kenya, is now back in the government pending parliamentary approval.
In his concession speech, Mueke acknowledged that the election was run with a level of political maturity that shows the strides Kenya has made as far as democracy is concerned.
"Kenya is truly poised to be an economic and political powerhouse on our continent. Because of my desire to serve Kitui and the people of Kenya, we ran a spirited race for Governor over the last 2 years," he said.
Mueke also served as Deputy Governor of Nairobi County between 2013 and 2017 before losing elections to former Governor Mike Sonko.
The other big name on the list is Nixon Korir who lost the Langata Constituency seat to Comedian Felix Oduor, popularly known as Jalang’o in the August 2022 poll.
Korir served as Langata MP for five years, between 2017 and 2022. Previously, Nixon served as a student leader at the University of Nairobi.
Other big names that made the list are Belio Kipsang (Basic Education) and Charles Hinga (Housing and Urban Development).
A total of 585 candidates were shortlisted by the Public Service Commission (PSC) from the over 9,000 nominees who had submitted their applications, according to the body’s corporate communications officer Browne Kutswa.
Over 15 Principal Secretaries (PS) and Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS) in the President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration had also applied and were duly shortlisted for the positions of Principal Secretaries by the Public Service Commission.
Some of the big names that have been dropped include Nelson Marwa (Devolution) and Jerome Ochieng (ICT) who publicly supported and campaigned for Raila Odinga in the last election.
