Prime Minister by whatever name
ANC Party leader Musalia Mudavadi.
He vehemently opposed the creation of the Office of Prime Minister in the run-up to the August 9 elections, yet last month, he nominated seasoned politician Musalia Mudavadi as his Prime Cabinet Secretary.
The action by President William Ruto begs a host of questions on the relevance – operational or political – of this office in government.
Is the position of PM – implied by varied terms – a crucial office in facilitating services to the electorate, or as it a mere campaign tool for winning votes? Alternatively, does the office complement government efforts of political inclusivity at the top leadership?
Answers to these questions must have partly persuaded the President to change his tune on the PM slot.
Initially, Dr Ruto chided his opponent, Raila Odinga, over “obsession with political positions”. The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader and former President, Uhuru Kenyatta, who unsuccessfully promoted the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) during the last Parliament, envisaged a scenario where the PM’s position would help achieve national cohesion and inclusivity in government.
The two argued that the extra positions of PM and two deputy slots would expand the Executive and thereby accommodate more people at the top leadership of government.
And akin to the National Accord and Reconciliation Act (2008) that assigned immediate former PM Odinga the “authority to co-ordinate and supervise the execution of the functions and affairs of the government, including those of Ministries”, subsequent posts caricatured around the PM’s office have similarly fashioned their roles around “coordination and supervision of government functions and ministries”.
Unveiling his Cabinet on Tuesday, September 27, for instance, the President explained that Mudavadi’s roles would involve assisting the President and Deputy President in “coordinating and supervising Government Ministries and State Departments”.
But except for the clarification by the President that the Amani National Congress leader is the third highest ranking officer in the Executive, a thin line differentiates the roles assigned to Mudavadi and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Campaign negotiations
Third Way Alliance political leader Ekuru Aukot, who served as Director of the Committee of Experts on constitutional review, attributes the clamour for premiership to “the character and nature of our politics” which, he observes, is based on a reward system.
In a way, therefore, the slot is technically a key component of campaign negotiations to be shared out to the third highest-ranked political player.
The lawyer argues that the PM position is geared towards rewarding political allies and not improving service delivery.
Curiously, the quest for the post of PM is mainly an obsession of the political class every five years – at election time.
This time round, the Kenya Kwanza and Azimio protagonists separately crafted and reserved the slots for former vice-presidents Mudavadi and Kalonzo Musyoka respectively. Mudavadi was lucky one.
There is no denying, nonetheless, that if used well, the position of PM is central to and powerful in execution of Government programmes. When he fell out with Ruto as his deputy, for instance, Kenyatta – through Executive Order No 1 of 2019 – gave Dr Fred Matiang’i or “Super CS”, as he was referred to, sweeping powers of providing “supervisory leadership throughout the delivery cycle of all national government programmes and projects”. There was also Charles Nyachae, who served as Chief Secretary under President Daniel arap Moi between 1979 and 1987, and wielded a lot of influence. At one point, an enraged Martin Shikuku, the vocal MP for Butere, rebuked him for what he termed, “behaving like a Prime Minister”.
The only other very powerful civil servant in the Moi regime after Nyachae’s exit was Hezekiah Oyugi – the Permanent Secretary for Internal Security. As head of provincial administration, he was arguably the most powerful individual in the country after President Daniel arap Moi and Energy Minister Nicholas Biwott, the self-style “Total Man”, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
It has been claimed that the then authoritative Provincial and District Commissioners instinctively stood up and saluted Oyugi whenever he called them via phone.
All these were powerful individuals who were regarded as quasi PMs. To date, however, only two individuals – Jomo Kenyatta and Odinga – have served as Prime Ministers of Kenya in substantive capacity. Kenyatta Senior was sworn in on June 1, 1963 after Kenya won internal self-rule and served for one year while Odinga, who was sown in on April 17, 2008, served for five years. Odinga became Premier in a Grand Coalition government with President Mwai Kibaki.
Campaign gimmick
Ever since, there have been efforts to reintroduce the position in government. Musyoka, who was a candidate for the position this time around, holds that the office should be strengthened with changes made to the powers and privileges of its holder in order to enable the office to deliver on its set mandate. He faults the idea of (mis)using the position as a campaign gimmick – a trend that is bound to render the holder politically irrelevant.
Ahead of the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution, Dr Aukot recalls that the position of PM was initially fashioned alongside the models of the United Kingdom or France. It was contemplated then, that the PM would serve as head of government, with the President – the symbol of national unity – playing a more ceremonial role.
But a section of politicians rejected the idea of a powerful PM. This is quite similar to the case of the Bomas Draft in 2005, when the then Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister, Kiraitu Murungi, declared the government’s pullout from the process on account that the document had creating “two centers of power”.
The popular opinion – then and now – is that the creation of the office was inconsistent with the political realities on the ground.
The notion of an individual who wins the presidency through national suffrage after a gruelling countrywide campaign, surrendering executive powers to a selected Premier and settling for a back seat as a ceremonial leader does not add up.
However, with the political class still keen on the PM’s slot, Mudavadi’s performance will partly shape and inform future establishments on the importance of this central office.
