Four Uhuru Cabinet Secretaries still reporting to work amid confusion over their exit plan
Four Uhuru Cabinet Secretaries still reporting to work after William Ruto assumed the presidency and amid confusion over their exit plan.
Despite the recent political shift, four cabinet secretaries from the administration of former President Uhuru Kenyatta reported to their respective positions on Thursday.
Tuesday, September 13, marked the conclusion of Uhuru’s ten-year administration as he turned the reins over to President William Ruto.
Four of them reported to their offices despite the change of guard.
Ruto is yet to formulate his cabinet three days into taking power.
The four Uhuru’s Cabinet Secretaries are Raychelle Omamo (Foreign Affairs), Farida Karoney (Lands), Mutahi Kagwe, and Simon Chelugui (Labor) (Health).
As part of his duty, CS Kagwe proceeded to sign an official statement alerting the nation on the COVID-19 outbreak.
However, as the transition is yet to be fully undertaken, the CSs argue they are still around to see to it that government functions are still on, even as they prepare to hand over to their successors.
“Once the (former) president has left State House, CSs are in office just waiting to hand over. CSs can be consulted, but it is Principal Secretaries that remain doing day-to-day administration of their state departments,” says Margaret Kobia, Public Service CS.
As some of them believe their tenure end with the appointment of their successors, others are convinced that their term end with a former president, thus no need to report to work.
Another group of the CSs, some of whom have since stopped reporting to their offices daily, say that the term of a CS ends with the outgoing president.
These CSs believe that they no longer have executive power delegated to them by a president; as such PSs are responsible for running ministerial departments.
During the transition, the Head of Public Service issued directives that CSs shall not pronounce any new policies for their ministries.
He also said that exiting CSs shall not travel out of the country on official duty, meaning they cannot travel to represent the government of Kenya.
The circular also limited expenditure by the CSs within the ministries to a maximum of Ksh.50 million, and that for anyone to spend more than that, they must seek clearance from the National Treasury.
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