President William Ruto has on Tuesday September 27 held his first cabinet meeting since being sworn into office.
The head of state chaired the meeting which was attended by his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta’s Cabinet Secretaries.
Among the Cabinet secretaries in the meeting are some of his fiercest critics who campaigned against him in the just concluded general elections.
They include; Interior CS Fred Matiang’i, Peter Munya (Agriculture), Joe Mucheru (ICT), Keriako Tobiko (Environment), Eugene Wamalwa (Devolution), Mutahi Kagwe (Health), and Raphael Tuju (CS without portfolio).
CS Matiang’i, who disabled his social media accounts after Ruto was inaugurated as president, and CS Joe Mucheru of ICT had previously predicted that Ruto would lose the August 9 elections to Raila.
The two claimed that Ruto’s opponent, Raila Odinga, would win with sixty percent of the vote. Mucheru asserted that the information was collected by intelligence teams conducting a popularity survey prior to the August 9 elections.
On the other hand,CS Munya was one of Ruto’s fiercest detractors in Mt Kenya. The Agriculture CS campaigned for Raila in his Meru County backyard.
The Cabinet was divided in 2018 after former President Uhuru Kenyatta went into a handshake agreement with ODM leader Raila Odinga.
Uhuru turned guns against Ruto with most of the Cabinet secretaries backing him.
In 2019, President Kenyatta promoted CS Matiang’i to chair the National Development Implementation and Communication Cabinet Committee. Matiang’i was granted authority to manage all national government projects.
He became the second-most powerful individual after the Head of State something that did not sit well with Ruto’s allies.
The new head of state is set to name his cabinet in the coming days.
Also Read: List of Powerful Government Officials Who Opposed William Ruto’s Presidential Bid but Failed