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The president also dismissed the attorney general and said ministries would be run by their permanent secretaries. Ruto said he made the decision after listening to the people and that he would form a broad-based government after consultations.
Kenyan President William Ruto dismissed most of his Cabinet ministers and promised to form a new government that would be lean and efficient. This is touted as a follow-up measure taken by the president after weeks of protests over high taxes and poor governance.
The president also dismissed the attorney general and said ministries would be run by their permanent secretaries. Ruto said he made the decision after listening to the people and that he would form a broad-based government after consultations.
Kenya has seen three weeks of unrest in which protesters stormed into parliament on June 25 after a finance bill was passed that proposed tax increases. More than 30 people died in the protests, which have morphed into calls for the president to resign.
Ruto said the prime Cabinet secretary, Musalia Mudavadi, a key political ally, would remain in office. He said the dismissals followed a holistic appraisal of the performance of the Cabinet and that the new government would help him in accelerating and expediting the necessary, urgent, and irreversible implementation of radical programs to deal with the burden of debt, raising domestic resources, expanding job opportunities, eliminating wastage and unnecessary duplication of a multiplicity of government agencies and slay the dragon of corruption.
Ruto appointed 21 Cabinet ministers following his election in 2022. Critics accused the president of choosing political cronies and departing from the previous practice of picking technocrats to be in charge of ministries. Three ministers resigned from their elected positions to take up ministerial appointments. Others lost the election and were seen as being awarded by the president with political appointments.
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Several ministries including agriculture and health have been engulfed by corruption scandals involving fake fertilizer and misappropriation of funds. He also announced austerity measures including the dissolution of 47 state corporations with overlapping functions to save money and the withdrawal of funding for the First Lady’s office, among others.
