President William Ruto has pulled a political masterstroke by nominating key opposition leaders to dockets that have been at the centre of criticism targeting his nascent administration.
The President, in a move that political pundits opine is setting the opposition against the people, on Wednesday let go of Energy, Treasury and Cooperatives dockets, in the process somewhat transferring his administration’s baggage to Mr Raila Odinga’s men.
The political manoeuvre comes at a time when the Head of State is facing the biggest crisis of his presidency, with angry youths taking to the streets to demand his resignation citing the soaring cost of living, punitive taxes and the opulence displayed by top government officials.
But in a sleight of hand, President Ruto appears to have shifted blame from Kenya Kwanza to Mr Odinga’s doorstep, a man who has always fashioned himself as the defender of the people, in a move to curb growing disillusionment with his government.
The controversial tax hikes, rising fuel prices and other failures of the Ruto administration will now lie squarely at the doors of an opposition that has always been critical of the government.
Nominated MP John Mbadi (National Treasury and Economic Planning), National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi (Energy and Petroleum) and former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives and MSMEs) will now be the ones to blame for future shortcomings.
During the 2022 campaigns, Dr Ruto promised Kenyans that, in his bottom-up mantra of nation-building, the high cost of living would be history, hunger would be eradicated, and thousands of jobs would be created.
However, after assuming office in September 2022, the Kenya Kwanza leader scrapped fuel subsidies and raised taxes for an already overtaxed populace.
Less than two years later, public anger boiled over and youths took to the streets demanding change in the wake of another planned increase in taxes. The protests began last month over the controversial Finance Bill whose tax proposals aimed at raising Sh347 billion to plug the country’s budget deficit.
With the demonstrations growing louder amid support from the opposition, the President was forced to withdraw the Bill as and fire his Cabinet.
Political commentator Javas Bigambo said the move by the President to nominate ODM bigwigs to key ministries puts Mr Odinga’s party in an awkward position.
“The entire Hustler agenda will now be under the watchful eye of Oparanya. Mbadi, one of the fiercest critics of Ruto, will now be tasked with planning for the economy, revenue collection and defending measures of raising such revenues,” said Mr Bigambo.
“If Ruto fails to deliver on his pledges to the people, it is actually the ODM brigade that will be hard-pressed to explain to Kenyans why,” he added.
Should he pass muster, Mr Mbadi will take over at a time when revenue collection is trailing spending, prompting increased borrowing which further exacerbates Kenya’s already dire debt situation.
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) of missed its revenue target by Sh276 billion to collect Sh2.22 trillion in the year ended June, a period when debt payments as a share of the tax collections were 73.8 percent.
Dr Ruto’s move to drop the Finance Bill, 2024 has already led to budget cuts of Sh177 billion and Sh169 billion in additional borrowing to bridge the gap.
The government is also under pressure to cut wastage, with the National Treasury having submitted to Parliament the Supplementary Estimates for the Financial Year 2024/2025 with various proposals on budget cuts across the board. Any move to introduce new taxes or increase existing ones will be resisted by citizens. Kenyans will also be eager to see if Mr Mbadi lives true to his philosophy and introduces stimulus packages.
Mr Mbadi will be tasked with tightening the country’s purse and plug revenue leaks. He will also have to come up with practical ways of managing the country’s debt and increase of revenue amid dwindling collections.
Mr Wandayi will also be grappling with questions over frequent power outages and high fuel prices. Eyes will be on the Ugunja MP to comprehensively deal with the challenge of multiple power failures .
An aging infrastructure, corruption and illegal connections have made the grid unreliable, and ever-rising taxes mean that power bills are too expensive for many Kenyans.
Experts say Kenya’s grid is unable to meet the growing demand for electricity, particularly during the peak evening hours, when many families are home.
They also say there is a transmission problem, because large parts of the country are still not connected to the main renewable energy sources, like the Olkaria geothermal plant
Mr Oparanya will take charge of the much-maligned Sh50 billion Hustler Fund launched by the President in 2022 to improve access to credit for the youth.
But Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale is of the opinion that President Ruto is not setting the opposition up for failure, arguing that, if the three opposition leaders fail, the President will as well have failed.
