Kenya: Bombarded from all sides, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto moved to appease their restless friends by filling vacant public offices even as the rivalry in the Presidency intensified over parallel centres of power that make it difficult for Jubilee government to deliver on its pledges.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto
However, the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) says the fault lines that have emerged in the government is an admission that Jubilee leaders were not prepared for power.
The differences are centred on the mega money contracts conceived during Kibaki’s reign that have generated intense tendering rivalry.
The contrasting views on management of government affairs that pits public servants inherited from past regimes promises to set in motion fresh attempts to free the presidency from conservative forces keen to maintain old networks, now referred to as “parallel government” or “parallel state”.
The public servants have elbowed out politicians who had an eye on such contracts as the Lamu Port and South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) Corridor project, the Mombasa-Nairobi-Kigali- Juba railway project, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport expansion and modernization projects and oil and mineral exploration, among many others.
The lid on the existence of a “parallel state” was lifted two weeks ago by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s speechwriter Eric Ng’eno, has precipitated fresh thinking of how to rein in unwieldy civil service, which enjoys immunity of sorts from the executive.
According to Ng’eno, the public servants served in the last two governments that were essentially a mosaic of discordant political entities, have “perfected the art” of creating crises between coalition parties to deflect attention from their activities.
Although the idea has not concretised, Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen concedes there is a feeling that a new president should be allowed to move in with his staff to preempt bureaucracy.
Senator Murkomen says the tyranny of the civil servants necessitates a review of the Constitution to allow an incoming president to bring on board his own senior staff. The new thinking, he adds, is informed by the United States presidential system that gives a new president the leeway to hire trusted lieutenants, although some are retained on transitional and institutional memory considerations.
He explains, “Any government requires the support of the public service to function efficiently. In Jubilee’s case the public service has not been responsive to the executive wish to expedite public service as it chokes with bureaucracy. The president should able to control public servants.”
The tussle in the Presidency is being watched in Opposition ranks keenly. National Assembly deputy Minority Leader Jakoyo Midiwo says recent complaints by the President that there were elements in the civil service are bent on undermining his government was an admission Jubilee is unprepared to lead the country.
One sided
“I do not think Uhuru Kenyatta is the government per se. He is a captive of civil servants who helped him ascend to power. He is indebted to them and so they cannot let him have his way. He took over an existing government that had its own machinery. These are people who are running the show and we should expect more of these fights as public appointments are made,” says Mr Midiwo, the Gem Member of Parliament.
The legislator was referring to the civil servants behind the formation of The National Alliance party, which brought President Kenyatta to power. Prior to Kenyatta quitting former ruling party Kanu, civil servants headed by then head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, former Internal Security PS Francis Kimemia, former President Mwai Kibaki private secretary Nick Wanjohi registered parties that were later dished out to political leaders. While Mr Kenyatta took over the leadership of TNA, former Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi was installed as party leader of United Democratic Forum (UDF).
Civil servants who formed the two parties and were retained in government have been involved is long-running fights to the chagrin of the President and his deputy.
Allies of Kenyatta and Ruto are on the warpath and are now pushing for removal of the clutch of civil servants inherited from the previous Kibaki regime removed. Mr Ng’eno, in the president’s speech, weighed in on a saga that had raised antennas at the State House with startling revelations that public servants inherited from Kibaki had perfected the art of playing one side of the governing coalition against the other.
Reached, Ng’eno said he stood by his comments. He, however, was non-committal on whether the remarks were sanctioned by the President or the deputy President. Neither would he confirm if his concerns were being addressed by the two leaders. He promised to grant The Standard on Saturday an interview to shed more light on the tussle in the presidency, but failed to make good his word.
Senator Murkomen, however, noted that Ng’eno’s remarks were prompted by the president’s own complaints that he was being undermined.
The senator says appointments for parastatal jobs should have been completed a long time ago. However, vested interests of this “third force” in government had ensured that the president and his deputy do not have a consensus.
“Ng’eno exposed what the president had already talked about in public. What these means is that in future, some public offices will be vacated immediately a new president is elected. The president is forced by law to retain the old public servants. He is also alive to the reality that if he embarks on total overhaul of the civil service he would be accused of victimizing certain communities or regions,” he points out.
By Juma Kwayera, The Standard