President Uhuru Kenyattas newly appointed Cabinet nominees will have an easy time during the vetting process after the Opposition coalition directed its MPs to boycott the exercise.

National Assembly Minority Leader John Mbadi wrote to the Speaker, Mr Justin Muturi, informing him that the NASA coalition would not take part in the vetting process.

Illegal exercise

Mbadi stated that the Office of the President, which is supposed to appoint CSs was vacant and that any names submitted would amount to an illegal exercise.

“This requirement (approving appointments) presupposes and anticipates the naming of cabinet secretaries by the appointing authority".

"I wish to remind you that the office of the appointing authority ... is vacant hence no need to constitute the Committee on Appointments,” Mr Mbadi stated in his message to Muturi.

Committee on Appointments

NASA's whip in the National Assembly Junet Mohamed reiterated Mbadi's message, adding that Opposition MPs had been directed to keep off the vetting of newly appointed CSs.

The Committee on Appointments is chaired by the National Assembly Speaker and is mandated to vet cabinet nominees.

Majority Leader in the National Assembly Aden Duale explained that CSs who have been re-appointed after serving in President Kenyatta's first term will not be vetted afresh.