Untouchables: Inside a Cabinet where failure gets rewarded

They are the group offering Kenyans piecemeal services, in turn, running down key sectors and piling economic pressures on an already overburdened populace. Their Ministries and Departments are littered with endless scandals. To their boss, however, they are the right fit to lead Kenyans to the Singapore dream.

President William Ruto has assembled a group of untouchables and regardless of the glaring incompetencies in their performances, some of which have compromised the country’s stability, they are guaranteed a slice of taxpayers’ money through retention, reappointments, and redeployment.

In a classic example of putting the interests of his friends and political allies first at the expense of taxpayers, President Ruto has opted to retain Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries in government even as several sectors continue to limp under the heavy weight of incompetence, lethargy and endless politicking.

Observers believe the President is setting a wrong precedent after recent months exposed his desire to keep his friends within the Cabinet at all costs and redeploy others to calm criticisms in their sectors.

Instead, he has opted for silence while painting a rosy picture of how Ministries are thriving and the economy is flourishing.

But as Kenyans struggle and key sectors grapple with the weight of uncertainties, President Ruto’s disaster class parade of leaders appears to be opening a new chapter every day with fresh controversies. 

Yesterday, several critics claimed the decision by the President to redeploy former PS for Basic Education Julius Bitok to the Tourism Ministry last week, despite the glaring inconsistencies in his performance, mirrors a style that continues to dominate the President’s reign.

They described Bitok’s redeployment as cosmetic and meant to dupe Kenyans into believing that efforts are being made to improve sectors. 

Here, incompetence is not punished. It is rewarded with redeployments, campaign platforms for Ruto’s re-election campaign, and a free pass to politics at the expense of service delivery.

Until his redeployment to Tourism, Bitok’s performance at the Ministry of Education had become a subject of debate over his handling of school fires and unrest.

Before that, his stint at the Ministry of Immigration was also dominated by claims of a lethargic performance after reports emerged of how his reign as the PS oversaw the shocking scheme that handed Kenyan identification documents to fighters linked to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), suspected international terrorists and other shadowy individuals.

In the covert network of backdoor dealings, rogue immigration officials and officers attached to the office of the Principal Secretary executed one of the country’s boldest internal sabotage operations, enabling fighters linked to the RSF to obtain passports with ease.

Bitok, who headed the Immigration docket as Principal Secretary at the time, had remained silent on the matter as his bosses also turned a blind eye to the scheme. Despite this, Bitok was not sacked. He was simply moved to the Education docket, a decision critics believe amounts to transferring failure.

As he moves to the Tourism sector, critics believe the President is not committed to addressing gaps in his administration and that he is aiding his allies to enjoy the fruits of taxpayers. For critics, it is a frustratingly familiar pattern, while political pragmatists perceive the latest move as another day in the high-stakes game of survival politics.

“President Ruto does not appear to prioritise merit when making decisions about retaining or removing officials. Instead, he seems to place greater value on loyalty and patronage networks. The individuals he has retained remain in office regardless of the mistakes they make, the controversies they attract, or even the political cost they may bring to his administration,” said Joseph Simekha, political analyst and strategist.

But Bitok is not alone. The President’s Cabinet is littered with a coalition of non-performers whose Ministries have been under fire as the economy limps and key sectors struggle.

They include Cabinet Secretaries Opiyo Wandayi (Energy), Hassan Joho (Blue Economy), John Mbadi (Treasury), Mutahi Kagwe (Agriculture), Kipchumba Murkomen (Interior), William Kabogo (ICT), among others, whose Ministries are grappling with several controversies. The second tier includes several PSs whose performances have also been subject to public scrutiny.

While some survived the 2024 Gen Z onslaught on lucklustre leadership, others are still leading Ministries that are barely surviving as the woes that rocked their past dockets continue to rock the administration.

For Murkomen, for instance, the murder of protestors continues to take place under his watch following the recent brutal crackdown on protestors who were demonstrating against the establishment of an Ebola centre in Nanyuki.

Under his watch, goons are having a field day against innocent Kenyans and even raiding places of worship that were once considered sacred in the country. In the recent past, he has intermittently issued statements against goons but critics believe the messages are meaningless because of a lack of political goodwill to end the vice.

Last weekend’s brazen attack in Kakamega on a school bus ferrying learners by goons was another gory development to a trend that is slowly becoming a norm in the country.

His Ministry has also been accused of doing nothing to address the rise of political hooliganism and the reemergence of criminal gangs who are wrecking several parts of the country.

Yesterday, however, Murkomen deflected blame to former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime, which he claimed oversaw mass human rights violations in the country.

“Our friends, who are now giving us lectures on how to run the Ministry, let them come with their statistics of how much damage they made to the country when they were here, so that we can compare statistics and the progress we have made”.

Some Cabinet Secretaries appear to be fumbling, others are barely visible, while a few have shifted into campaign mode, offering little more than lip service to Kenyans.

Calls for the resignation of some Cabinet Secretaries are growing louder, while internal pressure for a reshuffle continues to build, setting the stage for a delicate and uncertain political balancing act.

After weeks of public backlash, Wandayi is having a breather in the fuel crisis that continues to hurt the spine of the country’s economy, as focus shifts to other Ministries. Yesterday, Wandayi’s disaster class resumed as he moved to take credit for keeping fuel prices steady moments after Iran and the US announced that they had reached an agreement to end the war.

He, however, bizarrely claimed that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz did not affect the country’s fuel supply, adding that suppliers were free to source the product elsewhere.

But he is the same person who has been narrating how the war in the Middle East has affected supply and is the reason for the shortage and low-quality fuel allowed into the country.

Wandayi painted a rosy picture of how the government has smartly handled the fuel crisis. Despite his claims, however, Kenyans are still consuming low-quality fuel at high costs. 

Speaking on a national TV station, the master of doublespeak, whose own misleading statements have compelled motorists to struggle with low-quality fuel at soaring costs, believes they had a masterstroke on the crisis.

Wandayi has been facing criticism for misleading Kenyans over the fuel crisis and his apparent lack of understanding of the Ministry.

Similarly, at the National Treasury, Mbadi will be subjecting Kenyans to another Finance Bill that threatens to worsen the cost of living as the government seeks to expand its tax collection from an already overburdened society.

According to political analyst and advocate William Onyonje, the public’s expectation of meritocracy often clashes with the cold reality of political survival.

Onyonje argues that presidential appointments are fundamentally driven by strategic alliances and loyalty rather than pure merit.

Behind the scenes, these selections are shaped by a complex interplay of power-sharing deals, regional balancing, and the need to secure both legislative approval and future electoral support.