Kenya’s President William Ruto on Tuesday appointed his cabinet ministers and advisers who include 10 women and elected politicians.
The president had promised 50% appointments to women but out of the 22 ministers, only seven were women but he further appointed two more women as advisers and a female secretary to the cabinet.
The appointments are being seen as rewarding his loyalists who campaigned for him across the country.
Politicians have made a grand comeback to the cabinet after the previous administration, in which he was a deputy president, had introduced technocrats to the executive.
There was a debate during election campaigns whether ministers should be involved in politics as some of the technocrats openly campaigned for veteran politician Raila Odinga – who was being backed by then President Uhuru Kenyatta.
By-elections will have to be held in areas where the senators and MPs have been named in the new cabinet.
Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper described President Ruto’s new cabinet as a “heavily political”, while the Standard newspaper website said the cabinet was “heavily populated by politicians rewarded for loyalty”.
Source: BBC