President William Ruto and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in a group photo with the newly sworn-in Chief Administrative Secretaries at State House, Nairobi on March 23, 2023.
| File | PCSWeekly Review
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Ruto’s CAS appointments was part of a brilliant political strategy
You just have to acknowledge that President William Ruto is a brilliant politician. The High Court decision annulling his appointment of 50 Chief Administrative Secretaries proves the point. He promised all those men and women jobs in his government, and duly delivered.
For opposition leader Raila Odinga, he is a man of his word. He does not leave his supporters in the lurch. He kept his promise to repay with government jobs the men and women who were frontline soldiers in his presidential election campaign, but for now his hands are tied by courts that must be suffering hangovers from the previous regime.
Be patient, he’ll tell the fellows who’d already started styling themselves Deputy Cabinet Secretaries and even started carrying out official functions and claiming allowances. Very soon the judges will be whipped into line.
The entire judiciary will be taught that the Kenya Kwanza campaign manifesto promised jobs for all by the year 2023, and must not be the one to create hurdles in the way of employment creation and economic growth for the Hustlers.
Some of the noisier and more excitable fellows in the party brigade, like Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, will be trotted out on social media and the political soapbox to hurl insults and threats at the judicial branch.
The fellows who were salivating on gaining admission to the feeding trough will also be encouraged to direct fire and brimstone at the courts. They will, off course, have been assured that soon and very soon, the High Court ruling will be reversed and they will get their chance to raid the public kitty in arrears.
All of them will be totally in the dark – even as they continuing ranting and raving at the courts while simultaneously perusing advertising brochures for new cars and houses – that they are in the dark.
They will have no clue that it was all part of Chess Grandmaster Ruto’s brilliant political strategy. It will take forever until they come to realise that the case challenging their appointments was lost by design rather than through judicial malfeasance.
Somebody somewhere was instructed to file a weak and incompetent defence, so the Judges actually had no choice but to rule in favour of the plaintiffs.
The matter, of course, will go to the Court of Appeal, moved by the very same State lawyers who handled the matter in the High Court. If necessary, it will go all the way up to the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, Cherargei and company, properly fuelled and egged on by State House, will have expended copious amounts of spittle, with the most vile of insults and threats directed at Chief Justice Martha Koome and her six colleagues on the apex bench.
The very same equal and independent Judicial arm of government that was hailed as properly KK-Compliant on upholding Ruto’s presidential election victory will be the same one to make final determination on whether the likes of Millicent Omanga, Isaac Mwaura, Dennis Itumbi, Charles Njagua and Catherine Waruguru will be adequately compensated for their competence, drive, initiative and sacrifices for the campaign.
Unless you have a death wish, you don’t insult and intimidate a judge just before appearing in court.
Lawyers can be detailed to put up a feeble case, but extra insurance can be provided by manouevres from outside the courtroom designed to catch the attention of the judges and make them very angry indeed.
This is not foolishness as would be assumed. It is actually a reflection of Ruto’s brilliant plan. By the time his CAS nominees realise that they are not getting the jobs, they will not be blaming Ruto, who all along, they saw, tried his best.
They will direct their venom towards the ‘rogue’ judiciary, Raila, civil society, media, Uhuru, foreign powers, the IMF-World Bank twins, cartels, dynasties, witchcraft, unpatriotic elements, Bill Gates, 5G networks ….
In the short remaining time to the next elections, Ruto we still need to keep his faithful in line. They will be offered compensation in the form of appointments that do not require Constitutional definition or Parliamentary approval.
They were promised the rank of Deputy CS, so they will be given opportunity to still assist CSs as special assistants. Even if not able to read official speeches or officiate at functions on behalf of CSs, nor head State departments or answer questions in Parliament, they will still be empowered to accompany the CSs to functions, carry briefcases, shuffle papers, open doors, uncork water bottles, and so on.
Flunkies play a very important role in government, often as gatekeepers, sounding boards and intermediaries. They also have highly confidential functions, some of which are vital to national security.
A CS out on long assignment, locally or abroad, where there is threat of loneliness, needs a trusted assistant by his or her side to facilitate and vet any company that might be procured to provide some warmth.
In this era of unapparelled job creation, where results matter more than obstructive procurement laws and other bureaucratic hurdles, a trusted assistant is also vital for any CS who needs to receive and move the large amounts of cash pre-requisite to cutting out cartels from the government supply chains.
The fellows can take heart that all is not last, but they will still be scratching their heads wondering if they are very lucky to be at the service of such a kind, generous and thoughtful leader, or just victims of more broken promises.
