sossion and Ruto
Tourism Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Wilson Sossion has weighed in on the High Court’s decision to nullify CAS positions.
Speaking on Tuesday while appearing on Citizen TV’s Day Break show, Sossion said that CASs bring value to ministries and their role should not be overlooked.
“I served in the education ministry for long and I saw the value the CASs came with to strengthen the administration and the service delivery of the ministry,” Sossion said.
He added, “There were gaps in the constitution when the assistant ministers were removed and the public service was not invigorated to fill those gaps. The CASs in the previous administration served a whole five years to administer and deliver.”
The former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) secretary-general agreed with Dagoretti North MP Beatrice Elachi that ministries need different leadership apart from Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries.
“The most important thing is delivering service; it’s an investment to deliver and give value. I agree with Elachi that these positions are valid for the purpose of strengthening the operations of State departments administratively,” said Sossion.
According to Sossion, CASs play an administrative role in a ministry, as opposed to the CSs’ supervisory and PSs’ accounting functions.
“There is a big difference between CSs as overall in charge of the ministry and PSs as accounting officers. The administration is a completely different domain,” he argued.
The High Court on Monday ruled that the appointment of all 50 CASs was unlawful since the formation of the additional 27 CASs did not comply with the constitutional requirement of public participation.
“Whereas there was some reasonable public participation on the first complement of 23 CASs, there was no such participation regarding the additional 27 CASs,” Justice Hedwig Ong’undi ruled.
Also Read: Ahmednassir’s Message To Ruto After High Court Ruled CASs Unconstitutional
