NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 7 — National Assembly Appointments Committee has elaborated grounds for rejecting Gender Cabinet Secretary nominee Stella Lang’at on lack of strategic leadership and cultural sensitivity.
As he moved the special motion on the vetting report, Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwah pointed out that the rejection of Lang’at’s nomination does not impede appointment to any other public office.
“A rejection only connotes a person’s unsuitability to the office he or she [is] appointed but not an indictment in any way for her performance of other responsibility. The President may nominated her to another position,” Ichung’wah noted.
The Kikuyu constituency lawmaker urged collegues not to shoot down the report on the basis of the Gender Cabinet nominee rejection to defend regional balance saying the President has powers to appoint another nominee from the region.
“I will encourage the President to nominate another person from the same village or area with equal experience and expertise. We urge members to adopt this report [on which] we reached a consensus on today morning,” Ichung’wah implored.
The Majority Leader urged MPs not to belittle the report by the vetting committee which took three days to conclude.
Strategic planning
He explained that the Gender Cabinet nominee had not held a role in long term strategic planning in the public service:
“THAT, given the Ministry’s functions and mandate, a person seeking to head it must be an effective communicator, innovative, and committed to promoting cultural heritage and gender equality. The nominee failed to exhibit any of these qualities to the committee’s satisfaction,” said Ichung’wah, outlining the report’s findings.
The vetting committee chaired by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula also cited the nominee’s failure to demonstrate adequate knowledge of topical, administrative and technical issues touching on the Ministry of Gender, Culture, The Arts and Heritage.
National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohammed warned MPs against pushing for the approval of Lang’at on political grounds despite what he termed as a clear failure to show capacity to hold the Gender docket.
“What’s the point of sending someone to a job and then after two years we look for another person. That’s what has happened; more than half of the Cabinet that we were vetted at the beginning of the House were sent home,” the Suna East lawmaker remarked.
“The confirmation of Cabinet nominees is not just a procedural formality but it’s a vital process that shapes the trajectory of the governance of our country,” he added.
