Engineer Peter Kiplagat Tum is the new Principal Secretary in the Ministry of the Youth Affairs, Arts and Sports.
Tum, who until this transfer served in the same capacity in the Ministry of Health, was moved to the Sports docket Tuesday evening in a mini-reshuffle approved by President William Ruto and announced by Chief of Staff Felix Koskei.
It is the first reshuffle by President Ruto since he assumed office in September 2023.
Thus, he replaces Jonathan Mueke who has been moved to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Development.
Engineer Tum’s first major assignment in his new docket will be to assist Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba and Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa prepare East Africa’s joint bid to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
President Ruto has been popularizing the bid that will see the East African countries battle Algeria, Egypt, and Botswana to host the continent’s premier football tournament in four years’ time.
Incidentally, Mueke, who formerly served as Nairobi Deputy Governor between 2013 and 2017 and also unsuccessfully contested for the Kitui gubernatorial seat in the August 2022 polls, has been at the forefront of popularizing the 2027 Pamjoa Bid.
In an interview on NTV’s live sports show Sport on April 24, 2023, Mueke told presenters James Wokabi and Bernard Ndong that his Ministry was keen on improving the standards of stadiums in the country.
He also stressed that the government will only fund national teams to attend games that had ‘potential economic value’ to the country and those where Kenya is a powerhouse, or has the possibility of being one’ owing to the shoestring budget available.
Mueke’s transfer also comes days after he promised to aid in ‘cleaning up the rot in the management of football’ in the country.
He made the vow in his presentation on the state of football in the country to the National Assembly Committee on Sports, Culture and Tourism in Nairobi on May 7, 2023.
