By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
July 17, 2013
Francis Kimemia has fully
recovered from the shock he received when the Uhuru government subjected him to
a parliamentary vetting which he survived by a whisker.
When President Uhuru
Kenyatta announced his cabinet line up, he said something that spoke volumes
about the former Head of the Civil Service and Secretary to the cabinet. He
alluded to the fact that Francis Kimemia would be retained as Cabinet Secretary
for purposes of transition.
To observers, this was
taken to mean that Francis Kimemia was only retained temporarily as the
President shopped around for a suitable replacement. It was probably after
further consultations that the President changed his mind and chose to give him
a soft landing as Cabinet Secretary.
It will be remembered that
when Francis Kimemia took over as Head of the Civil Service and Secretary to
the Cabinet following Francis Muthaura’s departure, that short period before
the country went into elections, Francis Kimemia ruffled many feathers in the
coalition government. Because of his uncomfortable relations with the Prime
Minister’s office, he was accused by the ODM fraternity of working hard to
ensure that Raila Odinga did not become the President upon Kibaki’s departure.
Although Kimemia
vehemently denied these accusations, the perception that he was campaigning for
State House friendly candidates did not go away. In fact it was strongly
believed that his support for Uhuru Kenyatta only took preeminence when the
first State House favourite, Musalia Mudavadi came a cropper following
Mudavadi’s rejection by the Mt. Kenya MPs.
It will be remembered that
during Francis Kimemia’s short term as Head of the Civil Service, he
facilitated the recruitment of 47 county commissioners contrary to the
constitution.
And even after the High
Court nullified the appointments, those appointments were never revoked. The
Executive still found a way to formalize those appointments through an act of
parliament.
As politicians got busy
campaigning for general elections, there were a few actions that the Head of
the Civil Service undertook to prepare himself for appointment in the new
regime. He was instrumental in the appointment of many ambassadors and high
commissioners and several high profile promotions in the public service.
What perhaps Mr. Kimemia
did not know was the fact that the Jubilee coalition partners had a different
idea about the kind of government they had in mind. Obviously Kimemia may not
have been fully privy to the size of government that would emerge and more so
if the Head of the Civil Service position would be abolished and have those
functions spread among the 18 Cabinet Secretaries who would in turn be in
charge of public servants under them.
As things stand today, the
Cabinet Secretary has one major function, to take the minutes at cabinet
meetings and prepare minutes and agenda for the same.
It is true after so many
years in public service, Francis Kimemia made many friends. Obviously he bonded
with some more than the others. The spirit of comradeship could be the reason
he has come out publicly to vouch for the reappointment of some former permanent
secretaries into some public corporations.
If one looks at the
current cabinet, of the 41 former cabinet ministers and over 50 permanent
secretaries, only three former permanent secretaries became full cabinet
secretaries while in the former cabinet of 41, only Uhuru Kenyatta, William
Ruto, Charity Ngilu and Najib Balala survived the onslaught.
Obviously someone of
Francis Kimemia’s caliber must be feeling lonely in a cabinet that may not feel
his power. Therefore finding a way of staffing government corporations with his
cronies will give him a sense of belonging since he will have people he can
pick a phone and call in case he needs some favour to be done from time to
time.
Whereas Francis Kimemia is in order to be mindful of
his fallen colleagues, it is obvious that the Uhuru list that came out last
with the final list of 26 principal secretaries, must have been received in bad
taste especially be some of the PSs who were so sure of making it to the list.
Recalling
top civil servants from forced retirement may have its own complications based
on how they viewed their being sidelined during the initial appointments.
Obviously some of them with active career skills like law, engineering,
architecture or IT have moved on and started their own consultancies.
Indeed if
the truth be said; one did not expect Dr. Bitange Ndemo, the man who put Kenya
on the IT world map to be left out of the Uhuru –Ruto government either as
Cabinet Secretary or as Principal Secretary considering his contributions to the
IT penetration in Kenya in the last ten years.
Because of
Bitange Ndemo’s initiative and enthusiasm, Kenya acquired multiple cyber optic
cables concurrently, drastically reduced telephone charges and the time of his
departure, was on the verge of overseeing migration from analogue to digital broadcast.
The
challenge for whoever will be selecting former PSs to be redeployed will lie in
the criteria that will be seen to be fair and transparent. Is Francis Kimemia
up to the task? Is it even his docket to do so?
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