President William Ruto’s Nominee Penninah Malonza Rejected as Minister

By Machuki Dennson

The National Assembly Committee on Appointments on Tuesday unanimously rejected the appointment of Tourism Cabinet Secretary nominee Peninah Malonza.

According to the Committee’s vetting report tabled by Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa before Parliament on Tuesday afternoo, Malonza was the only CS rejected by the 17-member committee.

The Committee said Malonza “did not demonstrate knowledge on topical, administrative and issues touching the Ministry of Tourism”.

The report also read that Malonza “…Lacked the requisite abilities and professional experience to be approved for appointment to the position of cabinet secretary,”

National Assembly Committee has approved the appointment of all other Cabinet Secretary nominees.

Even so, the vetting report has included a minority report recommending the rejection of Public Service cabinet secretary nominee Aisha Jumwa and her Agriculture counterpart Mithika Linturi.

The minority side in parliament also tabled their report rejecting two of the President Ruto’s nominees for integrity issues. The minority led by Opiyo Wandayi say their decision was premised on integrity questions, contrary to the provisions of chapter 6 of the Constitution.

The minority members of parliament in their report say that the integrity principle is so critical that one can glean certain core issues article 75 of the constitution including:

1. Regulation of both private and official conduct of public officers
2. The conduct of the officers must not demean the office they hold, so it is the image of the office that the law protects and less of the interests of the holder.

• Personal interest must not override public duty

The members went ahead to cite the resignation of Boris Johnson as the Prime Minister for United Kingdom following a sexual abuse scandal that rocked him while he was serving.

 

                             Mithika Linturi

The former Meru senator and long serving politician Mithika Linturi was rejected by the minority for several reasons as outlined below:

He did not present his academic papers before the committee for reasons that all his documents are locked in his house which he is restrained through a court order from accessing it.

During the vetting exercise Mithika dealt with the issue of questionable degree which he dismissed saying his Bachelor’s degree is authentic and that only his Master’s degree is the one which is in contention.

Mithika is the only nominee with the highest number of active cases in court 34 of which are civil cases while one which has been withdrawn was criminal.

The minority side felt that despite the withdrawal of the attempted rape charges, the matter is so grave as to demean the office of a minister. The nominee did not delve so much into the matter while he appeared before the vetting committee citing a sub judice rule over the matter that had been sorted outside court.

The minority side also raised the issue of forgery in securing two loans of kshs 530M and kshs 100M.

                    Aisha Jumwa

The former Kilifi woman Representative Aisha Jumwa Katana was followed by the demons of pending murder case in which she has since applied to be a state witness. The minority side argue that the principle of presumption of innocence until one is proved guilty should never apply in assumptions to a high public office as the cabinet secretary.

The final report has since been approved by the national assembly as tabled by the leader of the majority Kimani Ichungwa.

The speaker will now forward to the President for official appointment and subsequent swearing in this week.

President William Ruto has been serving with the Cabinet of his predecessor President Uhuru Kenyatta since he took office.