YVONNE'S TAKE: Incompetence - Who's to blame?

Incompetence. A word that President William Ruto has used to describe some of the appointees in his own administration.

And it would seem that the President has been frustrated and sometimes seemingly helpless with his own Cabinet from the very beginning. A Cabinet he himself chose, presumably after careful consideration. And after vetting by a Parliament in which his coalition lays claim to the majority status.

In August 2023, when he oversaw the signing of performance of contracts by his Cabinet Secretaries, there was trouble already. By then, he was already complaining about their performance less than a year into their tenure. Complaining how he knew more than they did, they apparently were not picking his calls. There were even reports of some of them who showed up late to that very same signing ceremony. Some of them very senior at the time, who were later promoted to the number 2 position in the country. This was less than one year into his administration, and there were performance concerns already.

The President concerned with lateness, lack of ability to grasp issues and even how many of them spent their time traveling from one country to the next. Remember how the former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua twisted the knife about how some of them only changed clothes at airports and barely sat in their offices?

The President’s lectures to his Cabinet continued even last year November; “there is no room for excuse, or delay, or failure,” he said, at yet another performance signing ceremony. Then, another sign of his frustration, publicly calling his former Attorney General incompetent, followed by his sacking a day later. All of these public lectures less than halfway through his term.

And this frustration with his own choices has manifested in change after change after change of his Cabinet. Some, he might say, forced by circumstance, such as the Gen Z-led protests against his governance.

The changes can make one’s head spin. Ministry of Trade has seen four Cabinet Secretaries in 2 years. The Ministry of Health now with its third CS, Environment has also had three changes. The office of the Attorney General also almost had an Attorney General in the name of Rebecca Miano, and then the now “incompetent” JB Muturi, who was fired after the June 2024 protests by the President. The President’s legal misstep that was corrected following advice from the very man who was fired.

President Ruto then rescinded the firing of JB Muturi as Attorney General. But, as we are now learning, so incompetent was he, that he then appointed him Cabinet Secretary. So, is the President telling us that he rewards incompetence? Also, spare a thought for some Cabinet members who have been moved from one ministry to another, and then another and then another. Perhaps we expect too much of them to be able to perform when all they have done in the last 2 years or so is settle down again and again and again.

Folks, I am not sure we could enumerate all the changes we have seen less than halfway through the President’s administration. My point though is, if a leader constantly complains about the incompetence of his team, but then seemingly rewards them for their incompetence. If a President fires people from his Cabinet, presumably because they have not performed as desired, but then makes them advisors, then what is the real meaning of the word ‘incompetence’?

And if ‘incompetence’ really means ‘incompetence’, who should the President really be frustrated with, his Cabinet members, or the appointing authority?