Daily Times

Kenyan President William Ruto’s cabinet was sworn in on Thursday, two months after he narrowly won a bitterly-fought but largely peaceful election.

The 22-member line-up will be tasked with tackling the cost of living crisis and other economic issues in the East African country, the cornerstone of Ruto’s election campaign manifesto.

“You will have my support because you have no other option but to succeed. Failure is not an option, we have a country to look after,” Ruto told the new ministers at the event in Nairobi. Ruto vowed to run an inclusive, transparent and accountable government as he aims to transform the regional powerhouse.

“We have no grey areas, we have nothing to hide. We want to serve the people of Kenya,” he said.

However, the new cabinet did not achieve the gender parity Ruto had promised on the campaign trail, naming just seven women to the team.

Musalia Mudavadi, a former vice president who broke ranks with defeated presidential candidate and opposition chief Raila Odinga to back Ruto, assumed the newly-created position of prime cabinet secretary. The 62-year-old will be the most senior government minister and answer directly to the president and his deputy.

Alfred Mutua, a former governor whose party also sided with Ruto, will take charge of the foreign ministry, while former central bank governor Njuguna Ndung’u is the new treasurer. Kithure Kindiki, a lawyer who served on the legal team that defended Ruto’s August election win at the Constitutional Court, will head the powerful interior ministry.

The August 9 vote concluded largely peacefully despite the slow transmission of results, a damaging dispute within the election body and the ultimately unsuccessful court challenge by Odinga.

In its final report on the vote, the European Union’s observer mission on Thursday said the election “highlighted many positive elements in Kenya’s continued democratic development and desire to improve the electoral process.” It nevertheless raised concerns about the running of the vote and pointed to several areas that it said needed urgent reform.

These include election technology, funding for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and improvements to the tallying process.

Ruto’s ministers were unanimously approved by parliament Wednesday despite the committee which vetted the nominees rejecting the appointment of Penina Malonza as tourism minister.