Prime
The Gen Z demands that led to Ruto’s Cabinet clean-up
A protester reads a newspaper during demonstrations along Tom Mboya Street in Nairobi on July 2, 2024.
What you need to know:
Dr Ruto has said he has many sources of information, but this was by far the most direct in telling them the issues that the Gen Zs had with his Cabinet. It added to the messages encoded in hashtags, written on placards and even printed on T-shirts as youth protested starting from June 18
The questions were as many as there were people asking them. Why did your party thwart the impeachment of Mr Mithika Linturi whose ministry had been embroiled in a fake fertiliser scandal? Why did you appoint Mr Kipchumba Murkomen, a lawyer, to oversee the Transport and Public Works ministry that requires an engineer?
Those questions were directed at President William Ruto last Friday in an X engagement with Kenya’s young people, a significant number being Generation Z ( Gen Z).
Some people also questioned Mr Murkomen’s flaunting of wealth.
Others took issue with the tone of Ms Susan Nakhumicha as she commented on the initiatives to fundraise for those injured or killed during the recent anti-government protests.
Dr Ruto has said he has many sources of information, but this was by far the most direct in telling them the issues that the Gen Zs had with his Cabinet. It added to the messages encoded in hashtags, written on placards and even printed on T-shirts as youth protested starting from June 18.
“When I was growing up, at the time of [Mwai] Kibaki, I used to associate being a minister with some smart people,” said one of the speakers at the X Spaces forum. “Suddenly, these days, you have people, the best they can deliver is just abuses and (are) just too mouthy.”
Mr Marvin Mabonga was not mincing his words: “I want to let you know that in your Cabinet currently, we are having so many incompetent Cabinet Secretaries.”
He went on: “Where is the conjunction between the Ministry of Transport and a lawyer? In that department, you should be appointing a person who has done even civil engineering, who knows so much about construction. I’m even told that there is one of the Cabinet ministers who was caught in Dubai with [K]Shs20 million cash.”
Grayson Marwa asked Dr Ruto: “Members of Parliament from your political party, the UDA Party, went ahead and saved this particular Cabinet Secretary (from impeachment). What does that speak to your stand regarding corruption?”
Another widely held demand was that of disbanding the entire cabinet rather than merely reshuffling.
“Don’t reshuffle the cabinet or the CS, moving from one ministry to the other. We’ve seen that one before, what we are seeing is just transferring incompetence from one field to another department, another ministry. Please get new faces. You have a lot of people around you,” said one of the speakers in the X Spaces forum.
On social media, other issues that Gen Z were raising with Dr Ruto’s Cabinet was its size, comparing with countries like the US and China, the sentiment was that 21 CSs are too many for a population of 50 million.
Dr Ruto, much as he admitted in a June 30 interview that his Cabinet “maybe could have done better”, was quite protective of his ministers as of last week.
On the issue of Mr Linturi, he insisted that the people directly involved in the fertiliser scandal were in court and also promised that if any Cabinet or Principal Secretary is ever charged in court, “I will fire them”.
On the issue of a lawyer like Mr Murkomen heading a technical ministry like Transport and Public Works, Dr Ruto said it is not a problem.
“I am here as a scientist, right? And many other people are doing many things from fields they did not necessarily train in, because at a certain level, it is a management issue. It is a leadership issue. It is an issue about leading an organisation,” he said.
On the matter of a minister who was found with cash in Dubai, he termed it “fake news”.
On opulence and arrogance in his Cabinet and among his allies in government, Dr Ruto conceded that there was a problem.
However, with his clear-up yesterday, it was a complete 360 from his convictions about his Cabinet.
Perhaps the sting was in this remark he made: “I have heard you on some of the incompetent people you have said, some of the corrupt people you have said. I have listened to you.”
