Revealed: the Raila men in Governor Sakaja’s cabinet
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja during the unveiling of County Executive Members on October 26, 2022 at City Hall.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has finally uneviled his Cabinet, in which he retained Mike Sonko’s right-hand man, and named three who had worked for or campaigned for the Raila Odinga-led Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Mr Sakaja, who was sworn in on August 25, took a total of 62 days to put together his top officers.
Former Star editor and communications strategist Charles Kerich, who led the information and technology docket in Mr Sonko’s administration, has now been nominated to the Finance docket.
Mr Kerich was picked as the Super County Executive Committee (CEC) member in 2019 to supervise all the 10 dockets of City Hall.
Governor Sakaja on Wednesday named him as the Finance and Economic Affairs nominee alongside nine others.
“This afternoon, I shall forward their names to the Nairobi City County Assembly, for approval, and we expect that they should be assuming office by mid next month,” he said.
The governor selected six men and four women to his Cabinet meeting the two-thirds gender threshold.
Ms Suzanne Silantoi who was Nairobi’s youngest senatorial candidate in 2017 at 23 was nominated for the Inclusivity, Public Participation and Customer Service docket. Dr Anastasia Nyalita was nominated for Health, Wellness and Nutrition. She has served as the chairperson of the Kenya Association of Pharmaceutical Industry (KAPI). Maureen Njeri was appointed the Green Nairobi docket which entails Environment, Water, Food and Agriculture.
Mr Sakaja revealed that he has introduced two new sectors Boroughs Administration and Personnel, and Business and Hustler Opportunities whose nominees are Ibrahim Nyangoya and Rosemary Kariuki respectively. If approved, they will directly report to the Deputy Governor James Muchiri.
Ms Kariuki was ODM's director of membership.
Other CEC nominees were Patrick Mbogo for Mobility and Works, Stephen Mwangi for Built Environment and Urban Planning, Brian Mulama for Talent, Skills Development and Care, and Michael Gumo for Innovation and Digital Economy.
Aside from the 10 nominees, Mr Sakaja also presented nine others to run matters in his office.
He appointed anti-Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) lawyer Elias Mutuma as his Legal Advisor. Loyal man William Ndung’u alias Fazul who was critical to his gubernatorial campaigns was rewarded with the Political Advisor positon. The Governor said he was keen on making transport in Nairobi work which informed his choice of Mobility Advisor Prof Washington Ochieng. He is the Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London. Others who were appointed were Lawrence Wambua as the Economic Affairs Advisor, John Maina as the Urban and Regional Planning Advisor, Dr Samora Otieno as the Health Advisor, Dr Jairus Musumba as the County Secretary, David Njoroge as the Chief of Staff and Priscilla Mahinda for the Private Secretary position.
