President Ruto Lists 11 Areas His New Cabinet Will Focus On

President William Ruto on Thursday outlined 11 areas that the newly reconstituted broad-based cabinet will be focusing on.

Speaking at State House Nairobi during the swearing-in ceremony of 19 CSs, the President said the new cabinet will build on the solid foundation already built by the Kenya Kwanza government over the last two years.

President Ruto said the cabinet will introduce measures to levy public officials and accounting officers who occasion loss of public resources.

“To enhance accountability and promote responsibility for the use of public resources, we shall introduce measures to levy a surcharge against any accounting officer or other public officer who has, by their actions or omissions, occasioned loss of public resources in accordance with Articles 226(5), 201(d); and 232(b) of the Constitution,” said Ruto.

The Head of State noted that the government will implement a Unified Personal Identification (UPI) system for all personnel working across all the arms of government, including constitutional commissions to eliminate the ‘ghost worker’ payroll fraud at all levels of Government.

The new cabinet will also introduce a legal and institutional framework for mandatory and continuous vetting of all public officers.

According to Ruto, the framework will provide a repository of wealth declarations across the entirety of Government under one office.

The President stated that the cabinet will facilitate expeditious investigation and prosecution of corruption offences including determination of the cases within six months.

“We shall facilitate expeditious investigation and prosecution of all offences related to corruption and economic crimes through amendment of the relevant statutes, including the Evidence Act and the Criminal Procedure Code, and provide for their determination within 6 months,” he stated.

Ruto also pointed out that the reconstituted cabinet shall consider relevant amendments to the Witness Protection Act to enhance appropriate incentives.

The President mentioned that he has engaged with the parliamentary leadership with a view to expediting the enactment of the Conflict of Interests Bill.

Further, President Ruto said the new government will make use of the opportunities within the legal and institutional structures and systems to consult and collaborate with national justice, law, and order institutions with a view to promoting their efficacy in expeditiously and conclusively investigating all active cases within a specific timeframe.

At the same time, the Head of State disclosed that the new cabinet will from the beginning in the 2025/26 financial year, adopt a zero-based budgeting system to re-orient the budgeting and expenditure framework of the Government.

Similarly, Ruto said the new cabinet will exploit the power of information and communication technology to radically diminish opportunities for corruption, conflict of interest, and abuse of office by digitizing procurement and making it open and transparent.

“We shall initiate a framework to make the VAT refund process open, transparent, and accountable, because the immense savings out of this expenditure of public funds will finance investment in productive and transformative economic projects,” Ruto added.

Additionally, the president announced that the reconstituted cabinet will also collaborate with parliament to develop legislative measures to promote local manufacturing, value addition, and job creation by restricting the importation of products that can be produced domestically