President Uhuru Kenyatta has effected a mini-reshuffle of his Cabinet sacking Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa.
He has been replaced by Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed. Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) chairman Prof George Magoha has been nominated to replace her.
Echesa has received negative publicity in recent months the latest being his alleged links to Joseph Waswa, the man who conned business magnate Naushad Merali Ksh 10 million after impersonating President Uhuru Kenyatta alongside six others.
It is also alleged that the house in Ruiru where over fake Ksh 32 billion in different currencies and gold was found belonged to him. However, Echesa, a close ally of Deputy President William Ruto, has denied the claims and accused his rivals of spreading propaganda about him.
“Waswa is a friend to many politicians, including myself but he is not a business partner. What is wrong with me being a friend to somebody? Does that mean I involve myself in everything he does? After all, Waswa is a friend to several high-ranking politicians in this country,” he told People Daily.
His performance at the Sports ministry has been described as being below par.
Similarly, Amina’s ability to steer the Education sector has been put under the spotlight with her decisions such as on implementation of the competence-based system being questioned.
At one point, she announced that implementation of the system had been put off due to lack of adequate preparedness before rescinding it shortly after.
She was on many occasions compared to her predecessor Fred Matiang’i whose firm and hands-on management style led to radical changes in the sector, including management of national examinations, and she faired badly.
Her replacement, Prof Magoha, is a performer just like Matiang’i and together they delivered clean exams in 2016 for the first time in history. He is a former vice chancellor of the University of Nairobi, where his no-nonsense rule is still remembered.
Through Executive Order No. 3 of 2019, President Uhuru also sacked Broadcasting & Telecommunication Principal Secretary Fatuma Hirsi Mohamed and reassigned several others.
They are Susan Mochache (Health), Ali Noor Ismail (Cooperatives), Dr Ibrahim Mohammed (Environment and Forestry), Peter Kiplagat Tum (Labour), Dr Margaret Mwakima (East African Community Affairs) and Dr Susan Koech (Wildlife).
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Many Kenyans had anticipated the President will make radical changes in government as part of the war on corruption but this was not to be.
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