Raila allies fault President Ruto’s executive order on Gachagua, Mudavadi roles
President William Ruto (centre) with Deputy Rigathi Gachagua (left) and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi during the senior government officials retreat at Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki on January 5, 2023.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga’s allies have criticised President William Ruto’s move to reassign some government roles through an Executive Order.
The leaders said some aspects of the new order as well as other recent pronouncements by the Head of State on how he wants to run the government are illegal and an affront to the Constitution.
Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi said President Ruto’s allocation of duties to his deputy Rigathi Gachagua, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Attorney-General Justin Muturi touching on the three arms of government is against the principle of separation of powers.
President Ruto has tasked Mr Gachagua to oversee the working relationship between the national and county governments while Mr Mudavadi will oversee the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature.
Mr Muturi, on the other hand, will be responsible for the administration of justice by working hand in hand with the Judiciary.
“This is illegal because the Constitution has mechanisms on how the three arms of government should link up,” Mr Osotsi told the Nation.
He said Parliament has an established office of the Majority and Minority leadership, “who are the link to the Executive and we also have various committees headed by chairpersons to handle various issues.”
Mudavadi role
Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni observed that the assignment of Mr Mudavadi as the government officer to oversee Government Delivery Services (GDS) is an elevation above DP Rigathi “who will be chairing Cabinet committees and probably reporting to Musalia on the services”.
“Even assigning a departmental issue from the Agriculture minister to the Deputy President is like the DP should be reporting to the minister. It’s like he is becoming a director of coffee in the Ministry of Agriculture,” Mr Kioni said in reference to Gachagua’s new role of overseeing coffee reforms.
Saboti MP Caleb Amisi and his Makadara counterpart George Aladwa said Kenyans would not allow President Ruto to introduce shortcuts to the Constitution to benefit certain sectors.
“An executive order cannot supersede the letter and spirit of our constitutional democracy. We will however be keen to see how the office of Prime CS and that of DP are going to relate going forward. The President might just have opened a pandora’s box that could bring him down in 2027,” Mr Amisi said.
Mr Aladwa, who is also the Nairobi County ODM Chairman, said: “the President should follow the spirit and the letter of the Constitution because he is not above the law. Let there be public participation in all aspects of his pronouncements.”
ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna warned that the devolved units were distinct governments.
"The 2010 Constitution, in creating devolved units, made them distinct governments in their own right. They are therefore not subject to direction or control by the national government. The governors do not report to Gachagua. He must desist from interfering with their work," said Mr Sifuna.
“Even what he is saying that CSs should come and answer questions on the floor of Parliament is unconstitutional. It cannot be done through standing orders, which are a product of the Constitution,” said Mr Osotsi.
The Vihiga senator challenged the media to come out strongly and check on the excesses of the presidency.
President's right
But governance expert Javas Bigambo said the President had a right to reorganise his government.
“The organisation and reorganisation of government is the prerogative of the President, and for anyone to opine that the President has arrogated himself such powers of assignment of roles contrary to the law is simply incorrect.”
“Recalling that the Constitution designates the DP as the principal assistant to the President and the DP, as well as any CS, can undertake any task as assigned by the President, the Constitution confers upon the President elastic powers on assignment and reassignment of roles,” Mr Bigambo says.
The constitution through Article 6(2), he notes, entertains mutual relations on the basis of consultation and cooperation, and that has to be anchored to a coordination entity.
“The Council of Governors is the entity that coordinates the affairs of county governments, and therefore the DP should always liaise with the CoG, and not direct individual governors. County governments are distinct creatures of the Constitution,’ he added.
For the Prime CS, he said he does not direct Parliament or its work but ensures the drafting of Bills or Amendments to laws as agreed in Cabinet.
“The AG, for his part, is the principal legal advisor to the government. No doubt there is an interplay between the AG's office and the Judiciary, as long as it does not tend toward arm-twisting. What seems obvious is the deliberate intent on the part of President William Ruto to enhance cooperation and liaison between the Executive and the two other arms of government.”
Yesterday, Mr Mudavadi said he takes the directive by the President very seriously and soon he will begin engaging Parliament on crucial areas that will need collaboration between the Executive and the Legislature.
