President Uhuru Kenyatta has handed Interior and Coordination of National Government Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i more powers in the latest restructuring of the national executive.
In an executive order dated August 22, Uhuru put Matiang’i in charge of coordinating delivery of
national priorities and flagship programmes. Already, Matiang’i had been appointed to chair the National Development Implementation and Communication Committee.
The team, comprising all Cabinet Secretaries, Attorney General, Kihara Kariuki, and Head of Public Service, Joseph Kinyua, is mandated to execute national government programmes and projects.
In the latest move, the President also placed the President’s Delivery Unit and the Directorate of National Cohesion and Values under his ministry. Previously, they were under Uhuru’s office.
It is not clear whether State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita, who has been heading the PDU, will remain in the role.
He also merged the State Department for Interior and the State Department for Immigration & Citizen Services are merged to establish the State Department for Interior & Citizen Services which shall be domiciled within the ministry of Interior and Co-ordination of National Government.
Matiang’i has emerged as the President’s Mr Fix It and has been assigned critical roles and dockets since his appointment to the Cabinet in 2013.
While he has been hailed as a performer, some of his decisions have proved unpopular with Kenyans the most recent being his order to shut down bars this weekend to allow for a smooth national census exercise.
Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri lost the heavily funded Irrigation Department, which has now been placed under his Water counterpart Simon Chelugui.
He consequently created the ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation and the ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.
According to Uhuru, the move will enhance synergy within the water sector, which is a key enabler for
the implementation of the “Big Four”Agenda.
Kenya South Sudan Liaison Office has also been shifted from OP to the ministry of East African Community and Regional Development.
The ministry of Devolution and the ASALs has been given the extra responsibility of overseeing the Kenya Development Response to Displacement Impact Project.
The ministry of National Treasury and Planning has been given the role of Budget and Policy Strategy and will be in charge of the State Department for National Treasury, State Department for
Planning, Vision 2030 and the National Economic and Social Council (NESC).
On the other hand, the ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender will now be in charge of the Public Service Performance Management Unit.
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