President William Ruto has announced additional nominees to his Cabinet after nominating the first round of 11 names last week.
On Wednesday, President Ruto said that the additional nominees include:
- John Mbadi - Ministry of National Treasury
- Salim Mvurya - Ministry of Trade and Investments
- Rebecca Miano - Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife
- Opiyo Wandayi- Energy and Petroleum
- Kipchumba Murkomen - Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports
- Ali Hassan Joho - Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs
- Alfred Mutua - Ministry of Labour and Social Protection
- Wycliffe Opranya - Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs
- Justin Muturi - Ministry of Public Service
- Stella Soy langat - Ministry of Gender, Culture, Arts and Heritage
Among those that have made a comeback from the dismissed Cabinet include Murkomen, Miano, Muturi and Mutua.
President Ruto added that he was working on other dockets such as the office of the Attorney General.
Tackling Corruption
President Ruto said that among the demands issued during the recent protests was that the government fights corruption.
To address this the head of state made a number of commitments.
The head of state said that the government would propose amendments to the Evidence Act, the Criminal Procedure Code, among other necessary legislative amendments to all statutes relating to corruption, to expedite the investigation and prosecution of corruption and economic crimes cases and provide for their conclusion within 6 months.
President Ruto also announced that the government shall be proposing amendments to the Witness Protection Act to overhaul the statutory and institutional framework to protect and incentivise whistle- blowers, and enhance witness protection.
He said this will make it easier and safer for citizens to come forward and report corruption as well as other criminal activities.
The head of state vowed to propose amendments to the Public Finance Management Act and the Public Procurement and Disposal Act to overhaul the institutional and operational framework of public procurement.
Public procurement has been identified as the epicentre of corruption, conflict of interest and abuse of office in the public sector.
This overhaul is aimed at deploying a digital infrastructure within 6 months to provide an open and transparent public procurement platform which gives open, real- time and end-to-end public visibility of public procurement from advertisement to award of contract.
Ruto has also engaged with the parliamentary leadership and asked Parliament to expeditiously pass the Conflict of Interests Bill with the explicit caveat that he shall veto any Bill enacted if it does not establish a high bar with respect to accountability, integrity and anti-corruption.
"I will make full use of the power given to me under Article 115 of the Constitution to make sure that the Bill meets the appropriate standards set out in the original bill," he said.
President Ruto also urged institutions involved in the criminal justice system to provide a timeframe within which corruption and economic crimes cases shall be concluded and the same clearly communicated to the public.