The Head of State has given a special focus to the youth, gender, devolution, planning as well as national cohesion and integration which have all been brought under the presidency/ALI ALALE
The president has broken down the new ministries to 24 departments which will be headed by Principal Secretaries (formerly Permanent Secretaries).
The Constitution sets a minimum of 14 and maximum 22 ministries.
The president is now expected to nominate Cabinet Secretaries in charge of the new ministries possibly next week.
The nominees will have to undergo vetting and approval of the National Assembly, after which the president will appoint them into office.
In the new Executive unveiled on Thursday, the Head of State gave special focus to the youth, gender, devolution, planning as well as national cohesion and integration, placing them all under the presidency.
Mining, which was previously a department under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, will now be a stand-alone ministry owing to the newly found mineral resources including coal in Kitui, oil deposits in the upper north and Lamu as well as titanium in Kwale.
Sports, Culture and Arts have also been placed under the same docket with a view to leveraging the creative potential of the youth.
Information, Communication and Technology has also been placed on its own.
Meanwhile, Higher Education, Science and Technology have now been placed under the umbrella Ministry of Education.
The Ministries of Public Health and Sanitation and that of Medical Services have also been compressed into a Ministry of Health.
Fisheries and Livestock, which were independent ministries in the previous regime, will now be housed under the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Ministry of Tourism, which was also an independent entity, has been combined with Commerce, formerly Trade.
The former Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs will now become a department under the Office of the Attorney General.
Kenyatta announced that two ministries; Interior and Coordination of National Government and that of Devolution and Planning, will be placed under him and Deputy President William Ruto.
This means that the two leaders will oversee the functions of either of the two ministries, depending on which they pick.
“Under the presidency, there will be the Executive Office of the President and the Executive Office of the Deputy President with two ministries; Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government and Ministry of Devolution and Planning,” a brief from State House indicated.
Other ministries will that of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Treasury, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development and the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Services.
Others are the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, the Ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprise Development.
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