The two were appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta on May 27 this year/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 29 – Nominees for Secretary to the Cabinet Monica Juma and Cabinet Secretary for Water and Irrigation Eugene Wamalwa will be vetted by Parliament’s Committee on Administration and National Security and Committee on appointments on June 9.
The two were appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta on May 27 this year.
In a newspaper advertisement, the two committees called on members of the public to present affidavits supporting or opposing the appointments of Juma and Wamalwa by Thursday next week.
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“The Committee on Administration and National Security now invites interested members of the public to submit affidavits that they may have on the suitability or otherwise of the nominee for appointment as Secretary to Cabinet,” read part of the advertisement.
A similar post was made regarding the vetting of Wamalwa, whose nomination was seen by many as a ploy by the Jubilee Administration to bring closer the people from Western Kenya who have lamented that they had been ‘sidelined’ by the government.
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If successful Juma the Principal Secretary in the Interior and National Coordination Ministry will take the place of Francis Kimemia who had been suspended following corruption allegations.
He has since been cleared by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption commission.
Wamalwa was appointed by President Kenyatta to take charge of the ministry which was formed after two departments from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry Environment were merged.
President Kenyatta said carving out of the Water Ministry was to give special attention to the docket which was vital for the success of Agriculture, Kenya’s mainstay.
“Cognisant of the need to focus attention on water as a driver of agricultural development, I have created a Ministry of Water and Irrigation Services” said the President.
Following his nomination, Wamalwa who was the New Ford-Kenya party leader relinquished his position as Party Leader and was replaced by Bungoma Governor Ken Lusaka.
Others from New Ford-K who were appointed are former Local Authority Minister Musikari Kombo (Chairman Water Services Trust Board) and former Housing minister Soita Shitanda (Chairman Agricultural Development Corporation).
The nominees will be required to submit relevant testimonials during the vetting, clearance from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, Kenya Revenue Authority, Higher Education Loans Board, the Criminal Investigations Department and the Credit Reference Bureau.
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