African Press International (API)

Publisher: Korir, api africanpress@getmail.no source.standard.ke

Major test over Civil Service jobs

Although the naming of Permanent Secretaries to various ministries is expected anytime now, the changes are likely to be minimal and not widespread as earlier expected, The Standard reliably learnt last night.

In the new dispensation, top parastatal jobs could be advertised and those interested to become State corporations’ chief executives will be subjected to interviews, in a radical departure from what has previously been the practice — direct political appointment.

The apparent shift might mean, therefore, that President Kibaki may drop only a few of the 36 Permanent Secretaries in office when he picks the 42-member coalition Permanent Secretaries line up.

At least nine new PSs will be picked for the new ministries, even as a handful of holders of the plum Civil Service jobs retire and others are shuffled in “another attempt at portfolio balance”.

The new ministries include the Prime Minister’s office, Nairobi Metropolitan, Northern Kenya and Arid Areas Development, Public Health and Sanitation, Higher Education, Science and Technology, Fisheries, Industrialisation, Medical Services and Public Works.

It is understood that qualification and experience will be key in appointing PSs, although the line up is also expected to feature new blood.

To be a PS, proven skills to run a specific ministry will be key. There will also be regional balance in picking the top civil servants, and each of them will have to pass an NSIS search.

However, it is those who have attained the mandatory retirement age of 55 whose fate appeared to hang in the balance last night.

They are Mr Gerishon Ikiara (Transport), Mr Patrick Nyoike (Energy), Prof Karega Mutahi (Education), Mr Joseph Kinyua (Treasury), Mr Mutua Kilaka (Financial Secretary) and Ms Rachel Arunga (Special Programmes).

And, it will be another political test — in spite of denials that the Civil Service would not be politicised — for President Kibaki and Prime Minister, Mr Raila Odinga, who at the weekend were targets of simmering regional dissatisfaction over the coalition Cabinet, which they jointly picked.

There were fears that even though the appointment will solely be done by President Kibaki with minimal consultation with ODM, picking PSs could provide another turf in which vested regional interests will be pitted against the collective national good.

“PSs should be appointed without reference to any particular party or region,” PNU spokesman, Mr George Nyamweya, said. “Our party stand has always been that the Civil Service should not be politicised.”

ODM-Kenya, a member of the coalition, said through the Secretary General and Minister For Nairobi Metropolitan Development, Mr Mutula Kilonzo, said: “Although Section 111 of the Constitution vests the powers to appoint PSs in the President, we expect the Head of State to appoint persons who will make the objectives of the Accord a reality.”

He added: “In ODM, PNU and ODM-Kenya, we have a cocktail of qualified people to choose from.”

But Mr Wycliffe Oparanya, the Butere MP and Planning minister, last night said PNU and ODM must share PSs and ambassadorial slots equally.

“The two share executive powers. This cuts across the Cabinet, Civil Service and foreign missions,” Oparanya told The Standard.

The minister took issue with PNU’s position that it was only the President who determines who becomes ambassador, PS or parastatal head.

Saying PNU and ODM should consult widely before coming up with this professional arm of Government, he said: “That’s the way to go. We are in a coalition Government.”

Back to the PSs, even though Mr Francis Muthaura’s job as Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet has been a subject of much speculation in the recent past, The Standard learnt that the career civil servant and diplomat could be retained for at least a year or two to allow proper transition.

In recent weeks, names of his possible successor have been bandied around. They include that of Agriculture PS, Mr Romano Kiome, the only high ranking official who attended the unveiling of the Grand Coalition Cabinet at State House, Nairobi.

Mr Mwangi Thuita, PS Foreign Affairs, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Director, Mr Julius Kipng’etich, and ODM’s head of secretariat, Dr Mohammed Isahakia, have also been repeatedly linked to the job.

Last night, details of who will take up which positions from ODM, PNU or ODM-Kenya remained scanty. But there were questions over whether the appointments will follow the format where a Ministry with an ODM minister will get a PS from PNU and vice-versa.

Sources told The Standard that the appointments of the PSs could consider regional balance — an issue that some MPs claim was not taken into account during the announcement of the expanded Cabinet last Sunday.

The imminent reshuffle of the PSs comes against a backdrop of a blame game between PNU and ODM that delayed the naming of the coalition Cabinet and which could play out again in the picking of PSs.

Prior to the coalition Cabinet, a flurry of letters was exchanged between ODM and PNU showing that they had differed widely on their interpretation of key clauses of the agreement brokered by mediator, Mr Kofi Annan, in February.

ODM, through its secretariat, had insisted that the structure and organisation of Government, including the rationalisation of the office of the Head of Public Service and appointment of Permanent Secretaries, be shared.

The party had stated that the Government had to be “a grand coalition of two equal partners sharing executive power on a 50-50 basis”.

However, President Kibaki’s PNU side was adamant that executive authority of the Government was vested in the President.

PNU even cited sections of the Constitution, which vest the power to appoint the Secretary to the Cabinet and PSs in the President.

Muthaura, who was himself sucked into the storm, went further to state that the National Accord did not include sharing of jobs in the Civil Service.

“Therefore, it should be clear that appointments in the public service are vested on the Head of State by the Constitution or Acts of Parliament,” said Muthaura in a letter on March 10.

He assured public servants that there was nothing to worry about over their jobs or the politicisation of the public service.

“I urge the public service to embrace the implementation of the Accord. It is extremely important that professionalism is maintained and be free from partisan politics,” said Muthaura.

_______________________

African Press International – api