Government of spin doctors as senior officers clash on state position

Who speaks for President William Ruto’s government?

The Kenya Kwanza administration seems to have abandoned a policy observed by past governments of a centralised and structural approach of dissemination of government communication and instead adopted a multi-prong fire-fighting strategy that has at times bred confusion and conflict. 

Consequently, several government officials, ranging from the President’s advisors, aides, Cabinet Secretaries and allies from friendly opposition parties, have been acting as defenders of the administration, at times contradicting the position of the government Spokesperson.

Apparently, these soldiers, whenever they get the microphone, are quick to deliver a government position on social, political and economic policies and directives to a point that they later either crush or rush to issue clarification.

Some of the highly respected government offices that have been exposed to disrepute include the office of the government spokesperson, whose occupant, Isaac Mwaura, has found himself clashing with Health CS Aden Duale over the Hustler Fund.

He has also been forced to clarify some of his statements as happened when explaining the whereabouts of the public seal and his controversial remarks that government would not allow the June 25 protests by Gen Z to honour their heroes killed last year by the police.

Last week, Mwaura clashed with CS Duale over claims that defaulters of the Hustler Fund will be denied access to Social Health Authority (SHA) services.

Duale termed Mwaura’s remarks as misleading, and instead maintained that all Kenyans are entitled to SHA services as long as they make required payments.

“The information being circulated is inaccurate. All Kenyans have a right to access SHA services, regardless of their engagement with the Hustler Fund,” said Duale.

Mwaura had maintained that those who had failed to honour their pledges would be denied access to SHA.

Just last month, Mwaura was embroiled in another controversy about the whereabouts of the public seal as he moved to clarify his earlier remarks that it had been moved to the Head of Public Service.

While making a u-turn on his earlier remarks, Mwaura explained that the clause which was proposed in the bill which had proposed to make Head of Civil Service and State House Chief of Staff Felix Koskei as the sole custodian of the Public Seal had been deleted.

“The Public Seal is actually under the custody of the Attorney General as per Article 9 of the Constitution and if you look at the Office of the Attorney General Act clause 2: Designation of Terms, it clearly states exactly that,” he stated. 

The tendency by a section of government officials to communicate through social media, public rallies unlike in the past where a government communique was issued through a channel in a carefully managed manner, according to analysts, led to confusion to Kenyans.

Duale has also made public utterances that left Kenyans confused on whether it was the stand of President Ruto, especially on forming an alliance with ODM leader Raila Odinga in 2027, despite Raila’s insistence that his party was not in government.

Ruto’s Senior Economic Advisor, Moses Kuria, has made startling remarks that the country will not hold a general election in 2027, with many wondering whether he was communicating the President’s mind.

“The swearing in of IEBC commissioners has been stopped by the court. In another 39 days, we will start the 24-month countdown to the 2027 elections. Krieger (South African Judge Johann Kriegler who made a report after the disputed presidential polls in 2007) told us that there can’t be free and fair elections if we don’t have a commission 2 years before the election. Going by our litigious nature, this case will go all the way to the Supreme Court. It may go on till September 2027.” So the current administration will continue being in office in the absence of an election,” Kuria claimed.

While reconstituting his Cabinet last year after dissolving it to respond to Gen Z fury, Ruto admitted that the rage by the public had been fueled by “sub-optimal communication of our development agenda” and assured Kenyans that he would reflect on the same. 

“It is true, and I freely admit, that due to sub-optimal communication of our development agenda and a feeling of insufficient public engagement, we have lost many opportunities to walk the journey of transforming Kenya with everyone aboard, leaving some citizens unable to connect with the policies, programs, and projects that have been rolled out throughout our country,” President Ruto said.

He added: “At the same time, many public officials have fallen short of constitutional standard for public officers as laid out in Article 10, Chapter 6, and Chapter 12 of the Constitution of Kenya, which makes it clear that we, as public servants and officers, are the servants of the people, and that the totality of our actions and conduct must reflect this fundamental principle and the highest standard of integrity required of public office.”

Albert Kasembeli, a communication strategist, noted that there was a structural problem in the current regime and passed the blame to the President for failing to call his house to order.

While equating the behaviour of every government officer purporting to communicate a government policy on behalf of the government as a ‘tower of babel’, Kasembeli noted that the government may be attempting to test waters by using some of the powerful figures while at the same time, those after the controversial government stance may be out to use their position to cultivate personal political brand for the purposes of future elections.

“The different contradicting statements risks breeding erosion of trust by Kenyans, while it creates uncertainty of the policies that the many faces speak about which may create confusion among investors,” he added.