President William Ruto will in the coming days make hundreds of appointments in military, security, ambassadorial and executive positions as he takes full charge of his administration.
The appointments range from Chief Administrative Secretaries (CASs), chairmen of parastatals, ambassadors and head of missions, military heads to chancellors of universities.
A few months before he left office, former PresidentUhuru Kenyatta appointed about 200 to parastatal board directors. Uhuru also appointed 24 new ambassadors, high commissioners and heads of missions abroad.
Before Christmas last year, Ruto dropped 10 of Uhuru’s key appointees in State corporations.The appointment of CASs is still in court. It is expected that once the court clears with it, Ruto will likely use the situation to placate his loyalists as well as those that could have played key roles in his political journey. CAS positions were created in the second term of former President Uhuru’s administration.
The Employment and Labour Court in October last year suspended plans to establish the office of CAS, pending determination of a petition filed by the Law Society of Kenya.
The suspension by Justice Monica Mbaru came a day after the Public Service Commission (PSC) had invited applications for the position that should have ran up to October 27. PSC had sought views on the creation of the CAS position as requested by the President.
LSK had claimed in the petition that plans to establish the office of CAS is likely to cause financial strain to Kenyans as they will be forced to cater for extra wages for jobs that can be done by an already established office of the Principal Secretary. Sources within Ruto’s circles indicate that there’s a long list of loyalists keen to find themselves among the more than 40 CASs to be picked should the courts okay the position.