Vetting of Cabinet Secretaries, PSs abolished by BBI
Cabinet and Principal Secretaries will no longer require approval of Parliament if the Building Bridges Initiative report is passed in its current form.
The report gives the President a free hand to appoint Cabinet Secretaries and PSs.
In the proposal, Parliament will have no say in the President’s appointees to the positions.
The drafters of the report propose a Bill that seeks to amend Article 155 (Secretary to the Cabinet).
It states that: “The Bill proposes to amend Article 155 (Principal Secretaries) to remove the requirement for the vetting of the Principal Secretaries by the National Assembly.”
The changes are contained in the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020 by the Steering Committee on the Implementation of the Building Bridges to a United Kenya task force.
The committee was chaired by Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji.
In abolishing the vetting requirement, the committee argued that the move is to ensure an impartial public service.
“This is to ensure the public service remains impartial and ready to serve the people under governments of any political colour and ensure that their accountability is administrative and technical,” the report reads.
Currently, the office of principal secretary is in the public service and the PSC recommends names to the President for appointment.
Under the current law, the PSs and Cabinet Secretaries must get approval of the National Assembly before they are substantively appointed by the head of state to take office.
PSs, apart from being the accounting officers in their dockets, are the technocrats running ministries.

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