Raila, Kalonzo allies among the biggest losers in power line up

 
A number of Permanent Secretaries who served under former president Mwai Kibaki did not feature in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s list Friday.

The only serving PSs who will transition to the Jubilee administration as Principal Secretaries, the new title for the post under the new Constitution, are Mutea Iringo, Karanja Kibicho and Japheth Micheni Ntiba. 

A fourth PS, Michael Kamau, who held the Roads docket under Mr Kibaki, remains in the same docket, but now as a Cabinet Secretary, while former Environment PS Lawrence Lenayapa is the new State House Comptroller.

Mr Iringo retained his position as the PS in charge of internal security, which has been renamed as Interior ministry, while Mr Kibicho was nominated to the Foreign Affairs docket. He served as the Industrialisation PS under Kibaki. Fisheries PS Mr Ntiba was nominated to the same docket by the Jubilee leaders.

Top among those who did not make the cut include Information and Communications PS Bitange Ndemo and his Foreign Affairs counterpart Thuita Mwangi.

Mr Mwangi, alongside the Charge d’Affaires at Kenya Embassy in Tokyo Allan Mburu, is currently facing corruption charges over the purchase of Kenya’s embassy in Tokyo, Japan. He had not been shortlisted for the job.

It is alleged that the two purchased the property at 1.75 billion Japanese Yen (Sh1.6 billion) while aware that a fair market price could have been obtained had they adhered to proper procurement procedures. Mr Mwangi is currently out on a Sh2 million bail.

In 2011, he also appeared at the International Criminal Court as a witness of former Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura who had been charged jointly with Mr Kenyatta with crimes against humanity.

However, the exclusion of Dr Ndemo, who has of late emerged as a vicious defender of the Jubilee leaders, caught most Kenyans by surprise.

Recently, he addressed a series of press conferences to clear the air over the alleged misuse of State funds by Mr Ruto after details emerged that the Deputy President’s office had been billed Sh25 million for a private luxury jet he had used to visit four African countries.

Dr Ndemo has in the past written to several foreign media houses claiming they had painted Kenya in bad light during the electioneering period. He has also been at loggerheads with media owners in the country over the handling of the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. During his reign, local media owners pushed for a licence to operate the third digital platform in vain. 

The criticisms aside, Dr Ndemo has had a chequered career at the Information docket, where he has spearheaded the increased mobile phone and data penetration as well as helping bridge the digital divide.

Others locked out include Philomena Koech (Livestock), Ludeki Chweya (Home Affairs), David Stower (Water), Cyrus Njiru (Transport), Gideon Mulyungi (acting, Public Works), Tirop Kosgey (Housing), and Prof Jacqueline Oduol (Gender and Children Affairs).