DP Rigathi Gachagua, Musalia Mudavadi get new roles in government
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (left), President Dr William Ruto and Prime Cabinet Secretary nominee Musalia Mudavadi at State House in Nairobi on September 27, 2022, during the naming of Cabinet Secretaries.
What you need to know:
- President Ruto placed budget policy and economic affairs under his wing at State House.
- Dr Ruto has created three new offices to steer his plan under his direct control and supervision.
- These are the Office of Fiscal Affairs and Budget Policy, the Office of Economic Transformation and the Council of Economic Advisers.
President William Ruto yesterday reorganised the government, placing budget policy and economic affairs under his wing at State House in his first official act to reflect his vision for the next five years.
Having run his campaign on the promise of economic revival and the uplifting of hustlers from the bottom of the pyramid, Dr Ruto has created three new offices to steer his plan under his direct control and supervision.
These are the Office of Fiscal Affairs and Budget Policy, the Office of Economic Transformation and the Council of Economic Advisers.
Those in the know told the Nation yesterday that the Fiscal Affairs and Budget Policy office will act akin to the President’s Budget Office under the Uhuru Kenyatta administration to help craft finances and policies in line with the Head of State’s agenda, while the office of the economic transformation and the council of economic advisers will be tasked with predictive and advisory analysis of the economy, ways of raising revenue, as well as policies to help extend the cheapest credit to the most number of people to steer growth.
“Our immediate agenda is to create a favourable business and enterprise environment, decriminalise livelihoods and support people in the informal sector to organise themselves into stable, viable and creditworthy business entities. This is the essence of the bottom-up economic model, which creates a path for traders and entrepreneurs to build linkages, experience safety, and enjoy security,” Dr Ruto said when he was sworn in as Kenya’s fifth President.
Combination
In an executive order, Dr Ruto also reorganised the office of the head of Public Service, combining it with that of the chief of staff as had been the case under President Kenyatta’s first term before he separated them.
The chief of Staff and head of Public Service, the executive order says, will be the administrative head of the Executive Office of the President; as well as act as co-ordinator of the principal secretaries’ committees, and support the office of the President in facilitating the organisation and efficient execution of government business.
Other newly created posts in the office of the President are that of the Office of the Women Rights Adviser to be headed by Harriette Chiggai, National Security Advisor (Dr Monica Juma), and the Office of the Council of Climate Change Advisor.
The office will also have the Secretary to the Cabinet, State House comptroller, deputy chief of staff, and private secretary to the President.
Dr Ruto has also created the new office of the head of the Presidential Communication Service, who will be deputised by the State House spokesperson.
In President Kenyatta’s regime, the head of the communication team was also the State House spokesperson.
Dr Ruto’s executive order — which came on his 30th day in office and which reorganises government — also sought to address a reported push-and-pull over the Office of the Deputy President, held by Mr Rigathi Gachagua, and that of the Prime Cabinet Secretary, a position to which Mr Musalia Mudavadi has been nominated.
While Mr Gachagua will have his office at Harambee House Annex, Mr Mudavadi will be housed at Kenya Railways Headquarters on Haile Selassie Avenue.
The move to Kenya Railways headquarters moves the former deputy president and deputy prime minister far from Harambee Avenue, which plays host to some of the most powerful offices in the land.
Haile Selassie Avenue is known for incessant noise emanating from public service vehicles and commuter trains terminating at the Nairobi Central Railway Station.
Mr Mudavadi could also find himself temporarily “officeless” because his office is in an area that has been earmarked for the Sh32 billion Nairobi Railway City.
Additional reporting by Collins Omulo
