The Nation (Nairobi)
Gitau Warigi
4 July 2009
Nairobi — Even as Head of the Civil Service Francis Muthaura awaits what sources say is heart by-pass surgery in a South African hospital, neither he nor his boss President Kibaki has officially designated anybody to act for him in that sensitive office.
However, inquiries at Harambee House indicate that the administrative work and routine issues such as signing documents on behalf of the PS is being done by the Principal Administrative Secretary, Mr Sam Mwale.
Mr Mwale, an economist, is also overseeing the affairs of the Cabinet Office for the time being.
The question is whether the official or anybody else in Mr Muthaura's office has the delegated authority when it comes to carrying out what former Provincial Commissioner Joseph Kaguthi calls "substantive functions like issuing directives or chairing meetings of permanent secretaries".
In the view of Mr Kaguthi, a veteran of the civil service who is currently a commissioner with the Interim Electoral Boundaries Commission, the person next in line to Mr Muthaura in terms of seniority should be Mr Francis Kimemia, the permanent secretary for Internal Security and Provincial Administration.
Top PS
At any rate, that is how things went when the former PS in the Directorate of Personnel Management was around.
Mr Kaguthi cites instances in the 1980s when Mr Joseph arap Leting was the top PS in the Office of the President and the Internal Security chief, Hezekiah Oyugi, would deputise the Public Service head.
But, evidently, under the Kibaki presidency, a shadow to Mr Muthaura has never been contemplated, apparently to discourage the rumoured lobbying for the top job in the civil service.
Since the grand coalition was constituted, Mr Muthaura's office has been on the spotlight after ODM said the office is "amorphous" and encroaches on the co-ordination mandate of the prime minister.
According to ODM parliamentary secretary Ababu Namwamba, the office is "a cocktail of political and civil service roles which creates confusion" within government.
"We must separate the roles of head of public service and cabinet affairs. A minister should be appointed for the Cabinet office. The head of public service could, in fact, be the current directorate of personnel management chief who is the PS for public service," he said.
The office needs to be restructured and depoliticised in a future constitutional dispensation, he added.
At 63, Mr Muthaura is well past the mandatory civil service retirement age of 60. President Kibaki, however, chose to extend his PS's service contractually.
According to insiders, though Mr Muthaura has often indicated to colleagues that he wanted to retire, there is neither a visible succession mechanism in place nor an indication from the President that he would let him to go.
However, the latest health scare may well have prompted the government and the PS himself to begin thinking of a successor. But now, the OP is running just as if Mr Muthaura is on normal leave.
Most insiders say there is no guarantee permanent secretaries mentioned as possible successors, such as Dr Romano Kiome (Agriculture), Thuita Mwangi (Foreign Affairs) and Titus Ndambuki (DPM), will get the job which comes through the President's "sole prerogative".
According to well-placed sources, one person who had stood a good chance of landing the job was the former State House-based strategy and policy adviser to the President, Mr Stanley Murage.
Mr Muthaura had reportedly wanted to retire after the 2007 election, but the post-election violence and the political situation surrounding the formation of the grand coalition forced him to stay on.
Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua echoed the general sentiment in Harambee House that getting a replacement for Mr Muthaura will not be easy.
"This is a very unique government. You need a very diplomatic yet effective person to get things together," said Dr Mutua.
One of Mr Muthaura's lesser known attributes, behind the self-effacing mask, is of a very crafty person. Indeed Mr Muthaura's tenure at Harambee House has been defined by a unique set of circumstances which none of his predecessors has had to work under.
Basically, he has found himself in the middle of the tug-of-war of the grand coalition government, with the ODM training their guns on him for what they see as his zeal to box in the role of the prime minister.
It is a difficult role to navigate under normal circumstances, but this time made all the more dicey because one side of the coalition does not trust him.
Less appreciated is the fact that Mr Muthaura oversees the government machinery in an environment very different from when President Daniel arap Moi was in power.
By all accounts, Mr Moi was a micro-manager who wanted to be involved in all the intricacies of government operations, but his successor has a more detached approach that leaves Mr Muthaura with considerable latitude to do things.
There is the additional factor that the holder of the docket must constantly deal with the President and State House, just like the State House Comptroller (the position remains vacant).
A necessary skill under the Kibaki presidency for those who deal with State House on a daily basis is to know how to relate with certain members of the First Family, which those in the inner circle of government say Mr Muthaura has been quite good at.
The high turnover of State House comptrollers suggests the previous holders have had problems in this area. Indeed Mr Muthaura has had difficulty filling the comptroller's office because few qualified civil servants want the job now.
It was Mr Muthaura who, when immediate former Comptroller Hyslop Ipu opted to leave, thought of splitting the docket to create the position of Private Secretary to the President, which is being held by Prof Nick Wanjohi.
A former official at the OP says getting a successor to Mr Muthaura will depend on finding a loyalist who will get along with the First Family.
According to the official, there has been talk of beefing up the PS's office with more people to lessen the workload on Mr Muthaura, when he returns.
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