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Kenya: Give Us a Lean Cabinet
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Business Daily (Nairobi)
EDITORIAL
26 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
Political stake-seekers appear to have mushroomed and taken advantage of the failure to reconstitute a new Cabinet. They are not only making demands, but are also spoiling for a fight.
Are we going back to square one, again? On Tuesday, the PNU and ODM sides could not agree on who takes what they think are crucial ministries giving ammo to both sides to dangerous sideshows.
President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga, who is the prime minister-designate, should take the blame and move with speed and agree not only on the number of ministries, but on the principal heads.
The spirit in which Parliament passed the peace and reconciliation Bills should not be taken for granted. It can wane as loose tongues take advantage of the situation. The time to ease the tension is now.
The sabotage of a lean Cabinet is on and many politicians still see ministries as part of a gravy train.
But for a start, there appears to be an agreement on the key ministries by both PNU and ODM and that is what each is fighting for. We believe that the parties must have a foot in the four core areas: Infrastructure, Production, Security and Services.
But mischief on both sides is not what Kenyans want at this hour. The time to play political hard ball is over. Both Kibaki and Raila should not use ministries as reward schemes to their supporters. Rather, they should put the interest of this nation first and come up with a lean Cabinet and amalgamate the small ministries' functions.
When Jomo Kenyatta became President in 1964 he managed the affairs of this nation with a Cabinet of 18 ministers. But of late the ministerial positions are used as reward schemes for loyalty. No nation can develop along patronage lines and the time to break out of that trend is now.
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This is not the time to replace a group of elite with another. What we need are people of integrity, trust and wisdom to lead the ministries. We also need to see some solidarity, brotherhood and cohesiveness. If that does not happen, even the work of the prime minister-designate in co-ordinating the executive functions of the government will be a hard task.
And the losers will be the Kenyan taxpayers who will have to put up with bad governance.
After the December havoc, the interests of this nation should come first. Ministries should be led by qualified individuals who can pass the test.
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