Since Thursday, all eyes have been on Parliament as the National Assembly Committee on Appointments, chaired by Speaker Moses Wetangula, conducts vetting for President William Ruto’s Cabinet Secretary nominees. The vetting began following the deadline for public submissions, which allowed the process to proceed and is set to conclude on Sunday.
According to a statement from Speaker Wetangula, the committee had received over 1,300 submissions by Thursday morning. He noted that 187 of these were affidavits as outlined in section 6(9) of the Act. The remaining submissions either expressed general opposition to one or more nominees, were repetitive, supported the nominees, or were unrelated to the process. Wetangula also mentioned that some Kenyans submitted applications for appointment as Cabinet Secretaries.
“I want to assure the Kenyan public that the Committee on Appointments will thoroughly scrutinize each submission made in relation to the approval hearings,” he stated.
Interior CS nominee Kithure Kindiki was the first to undergo vetting on Thursday at 8 am, followed by Debra Mlongo (Health), Alice Wahome (Lands), Julius Migos Ogamba (Education), and Roselinda Soipan Tuya (Defence) on the same day.
On Friday, nominees Andrew Mwihia (Agriculture), Aden Duale (Environment), Eric Muuga (Water), Davis Chirchir (Transport), and Margaret Ndung’u (ICT) were vetted.
Saturday saw John Mbadi (Treasury), Salim Mvurya (Trade), Rebecca Miano (Tourism), Opiyo Wandayi (Energy), and Kipchumba Murkomen (Sports) appear before the committee in that order.
The final day of vetting has featured Hassan Joho (Mining), Alfred Mutua (Labour), Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives), Justin Muturi (Public Service), and Stella Lang’at (Gender) facing the Wetangula-led committee.
As the vetting process continues, it has been revealed that the first five nominees have a combined net worth of approximately Ksh. 2.5 billion. There are particular concerns about how the net worth of nominees who served in the previous Cabinet has changed over the past 20 months.
Most nominees indicated that they accumulated their wealth through businesses, savings, assets, and salary income.
Ogamba (Education) informed the committee that his net worth is Ksh. 790 million, which he has acquired from his law firm, land, tea, trees, farm equipment, and vehicles. The 57-year-old Nairobi University graduate has practiced law for 31 years and currently serves as the board chairman of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen).
Kindiki reported to the committee that he has increased his wealth to Ksh. 694 million, up from Ksh. 544 million two years ago.
Wahome, whose net worth was Ksh. 218 million in 2022, has since grown her wealth to Ksh. 327 million. Tuya, meanwhile, reported a net worth of Ksh. 156 million, which has increased to Ksh. 243 million during the same period.
Mlongo stated her net worth as Ksh. 455 million, a combined total with her spouse.
The nominees have been appearing before the National Assembly’s Committee on Appointments for vetting in accordance with section 8 of the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act of 2011, which stipulates that the committee to which such nominations are referred must consider the matter and table a report in the House within 28 days.
