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The issue of the size of the country’s cabinet is a not a new one, and has drawn
protest from taxpayers since Grand coalition government established the 42
member cabinet in 2008. Kenya’s cabinet of the 40 ministers (less 3, the minister
for higher education, minister for industrialisation and minister for foreign affairs
are currently under suspension) is rivalled only by the cabinets of Pakistan that
has 55 ministers and Sri Lanka, which has 53.
Rumours about an impending cabinet shuffle have been rife many have hinted
that this could be a chance for the President and the Prime Ministers to cut down
Kenya’s bloated cabinet. However the Prime Minister’s public reluctance to cut
down the size of cabinet was evident in his speech in parliament in which he
stated that a smaller cabinet would not necessarily reduce the costs, tax paying
citizens may argue differently.
At its current size (salaries of 40 ministers, 80 assistant ministers + benefits,
allowances not to forgetting salaries and benefits of the President, the Vice
President and the Attorney General) the Cabinet costs the taxpayers upwards of
2 billion shilling per year.
Political analysts have linked the impending shuffle to 2012 politics and the
creation of new alliances and the maintenance of old ones, rather than a desire
to reduce the size of cabinet or the burden of cost of such a large cabinet to
Kenyans. If there a change in cabinet in the offing it would be worth while for the two
principals to keep the spirit of constitution which limits the Cabinet to a minimum
of 14 and a maximum of 22.
Technically the new style cabinet as envisioned by the constitution (i.e. a lean
cabinet, in which positions are no longer used to attract political support or
reward cronyism, as cabinet secretaries (ministers) are no longer drawn from
members of parliament and members will be required to relinquish their seats if
appointed to cabinet positions and in which appointment is no longer exclusively
done by the president) does not actually start till after the next election in 2012 its
never too early to start implementation especially with regard to numbers.
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