The likes of CS Bore make a mockery of parliamentary vetting process
Labour CS Florence Bore addressing journalists at the Deputy President official Residence, Karen on June 22, 2023.
The mandatory vetting of public officials provided for in our Constitution comes about from our bad past, in which a President could appoint anyone he wished to fill a senior position, whether the person was capable of the task or not.
The previous Constitution was silent on this matter and that is how we ended up with a Central Bank governor whose field of study was history and who had no background at all in finance or economics. We had Cabinet ministers who had never attended school and the damage they did to the country has yet to be quantified.
The provision was put in place to save the nation from such types of people and that is why all Executive appointments have to be confirmed by Parliament. Sadly, this noble prerequisite is being made a mockery of.
The UhuRuto administration vetted a proposed Cabinet Secretary who had only one certificate – a birth certificate. Somehow, however, the man passed the vetting process with flying colours and went ahead to murder the Sports docket. That, in itself, proved to all Kenyans just how low sports was rated in their agenda.
Multi-millionaires
During the vetting of CSs last year, Kenyans were shocked by the sheer amount of wealth declared by the nominees, almost all of whom were multi-millionaires, with a sprinkling of billionaires. It is no secret that some of these individuals might have inflated their true worth so that no red flags would be raised when they acquired much more while in office.
A case in point is the controversial deal between Labour and Social Protection CS Florence Bore and Gatanga MP Edward Muriu over a multimillion-shilling home in the leafy suburb of Karen, which ended with the vacation of the minister after a week of chest-thumping.
Bore claimed that she had entered into a contractual agreement with a firm associated with the MP to buy the house at a negotiated and agreed purchase price. The legislator stated, however, that no agreement had been reached on purchase price. While Bore is a CS, Muriu is the Legal Affairs Secretary of the United Democratic Alliance, one of the major partners in the Kenya Kwanza government led by President William Ruto.
When she was vetted, Bore said her net worth was KSh200 million. What shocked many Kenyans about the Karen house saga was her seeming dramatic turnaround in fortunes and the fact that she was still seeking a mortgage facility, that she had paid 10 per cent of the agreed price, that she still had 90 days to pay the rest, blah blah blah… Many people were even surprised that such a CS existed, bringing to question the quality of vetting. Are MPs mere rubber-stamps? If so, this could end up being the weakest Parliament in the multiparty era, given the strong influence the Executive has over its roles.
Partisan politics
Partisan politics has taken over the existence of independent thinking by MPs. They are slowly throwing away parliamentary power to check on the Executive and thinning away the relevance of the Legislature. In the end, even bankrupt people will pass their tests with comic ease. Kenyans will recall how poorly the nominee for the Tourism docket, Peninah Malonza, performed during vetting. Players in the industry called on MPs to reject her nomination. But the legislators were whipped into line and confirmed her. Soon after her appointment, she went AWOL, just disappeared below the radar and probably lives in a submersible where only peace reigns.
In the meantime, what is going on in the tourism sector? What is there to expect? What is being done to revitalise that stunned sector? Who has heard the cries of the hoteliers whose businesses are limping and workers who are losing their jobs? All this comes about because Parliament has abdicated its critical vetting role. All that’s left are political party loyalists who are ready to roar for the President at the slightest command.
What’s the need for MPs to vet nominees if the Executive will eventually have its way? The live interviews broadcast across the country, it turns out, have been reduced to TV comic shows. They stink to high heaven and we must find a way to sanitise them with integrity and independent thinking.
