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Why Uhuru’s Principal Secretaries will continue serving

By Winnie Onyando November 17th, 2022 2 min read

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Principal Secretaries will continue serving after the National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula suspended the vetting of the same positions following a court order.

This came a few days after Justice Nzioki Makau certified the case filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) as urgent.

In connection to that, the Speaker also barred committees that have already vetted PS nominees not to go ahead to consider their suitability until the case is concluded.

“It is notified to all chairpersons of departmental committees, all persons nominated as Principal Secretaries and the general public that the vetting of persons nominated to serve as principal secretaries is hereby suspended forthwith until further notice,” Mr Wetang’ula said.

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In the petition, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) argued that the nomination of PSs did not meet the criteria and the aspirations of all Kenyans as the list was not inclusive.

LSK also argues that the nominations are unlawful and unconstitutional for failing to meet the two-thirds gender requirement as well as regional and ethnic balance.

In the court papers, LSK claims that in the disputed list 13 nominees are members of the Kalenjin community from the Rift Valley while 13 others are from Central Kenya region.

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In relation to gender composition, LSK says the list is made up of 11 women out of the 51 nominees.

“This is contrary to pluralism of the country and depicts regional imbalance,” LSK said.

LSK also claims that the larger public and the marginalised communities will suffer continued lack of justice and alienation in the appointments to key positions in the country.

The vetting process will proceed once the case is settled.

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