“I would rather die than resign?”. These were the words of Finance minister Amos Kimunya in President Kibakis administration, when there was mounting pressure for him to resign over the sale of Grand Regency Hotel to Libyans. Typical of Kenyan politicians, who never take personal responsibility, Kimunya did not relinquish his ministerial position. Kiraitu Murungi, Minister for Energy, his National Security counterpart Chris Murungaru and George Saitoti, who was holding the Finance docket in the early 1990s under President Moi during the Goldenberg scandal stuck to their guns and refused to step aside until pressure was piled on the coalition government by foreign donors and the opposition. Kibaki reappointed Murungi and Saitoti back to the Cabinet after the pressure eased. In Kenya, politicians and government officials do not relinquish power, they are either sacked, voted out during elections or simply die in office. So it was quite unprecedented when Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo announced his resignation from the post he had occupied since 2012. Kimaiyo announced during a hurriedly convened press briefing that: I have decided to take an early retirement due to personal matters”. His resignation on the same day President Uhuru Kenyatta made major changes in the security docket by appointing Maj Gen (Rtd) Joseph Nkaissery (MP for Kajiado Central on the ODM ticket) to replace Joseph ole Lenku did not come as a surprise. The two have been under immense pressure to leave office due to runaway insecurity. Nevertheless, Kimaiyo, like any other Kenyan government official, would not have resigned if he was not asked by the President to do so. The President’s changes came after passionate pressure from opposition politicians and civil society for him to sack top security officials for incompetence in the wake of the wave of insecurity. Political pundits say former director general of the National Intelligence Service Maj Gen (Rtd) Michael Gichangi left, not because he was forced to, but he had been at the helm for eight years. Philip Kameru, who succeeded him, is still new and it is not appropriate for people to bay for his blood. Under the constitution, Article 152(2), the President shall nominate and with the approval of the National Assembly, appoint Cabinet Secretaries and Section six of the same clause states that a member of the National Assembly, supported by at least one-quarter of all members, may propose a motion requiring the President to dismiss a Cabinet Secretary. Some MPs and senators have threatened to impeach Lenku in the past and even called on the President to overhaul the security chiefs, but these fell on deaf ear. The National Assembly and Senate last Tuesday debated the insecurity issue as a matter of national urgency and faulted the government. All the members who contributed to the motions called for the sacking of Lenku and Kimaiyo. A man can only take so much of the blame, and the culmination of a series of meetings with the final one being that of the top security organ last week, the National Security Council, which the President chairs, sealed the fate of Kimaiyo and Lenku. By appointing Nkaissery, the President was sending out two messages. One, Kimaiyo and Lenku are now out of the way. Secondly, the opposition, which has been shouting at the top of its voice to have the two sacked, has been given one of their own—from ODM—to handle the Interior docket, would they raise the same brouhaha when things go wrong?
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 05:36:14 +0000
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