President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday made drastic changes to his cabinet with Interior CS Fred Matiang’i being brought at the heart of the Cabinet.
Matiangi’s apparent promotion by President Kenyatta has seen political pundits argue that William Ruto’s roles have now been trimmed.
The question many people are asking is this: Where do the latest changes by Uhuru leave his deputy Ruto?
Matiang’i will take charge of the implementation and monitoring of all development projects initiated and funded by the national government through a new Cabinet sub-committee.
The sub-committee will be known as the National Development Implementation and Communication Cabinet Committee. It brings on board all CSs, Attorney General Kihara Kariuki and Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua.
Under the new directive, the conceptualisation, monitoring, implementation and evaluation will be done right from the grassroots.
Uhuru also handed him the critical National Transport and Safety Authority, which was initially in the giant Transport ministry under James Macharia.
In a new executive order, Uhuru established four powerful committees with Matiang’i at the helm.
The Matiangi-led National Development Implementation and Communication Cabinet Committee will report directly to the President.
It would provide overall supervisory leadership throughout the delivery circle of all national government’s programmes and projects.
According to the executive order dated Monday this week, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich will deputise Matiang’i in the Cabinet sub-committee.
Among the central roles of the committee would be to ensure coordinated strategic communication to the public and other stakeholders in the progress of government programmes and projects.
Other functions include monitoring and evaluation of the follow-up mechanism for resources allocated for priority programmes and projects to ensure proper use and realizstion of targeted outcomes.
The committee has been given sweeping powers and could recommend termination of some contracts and recommend legal action in cases where there is presumed loss of public funds.
It will provide “timely guidance on appropriate measures to address challenges constraining effective implementation and delivery of development programmes and projects”.