On Monday, June 15, President William Ruto revealed that the late Raila Odinga did not expect him to appoint an individual from Luo Nyanza as the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury.
Ruto revealed that following the formation of the Broad-based Government, he and Raila had a sit-down where they discussed who should be appointed to the cabinet.
He stated that he defied the former Prime Minister and nominated John Mbai for appointment as Treasury CS.
"I remember very well, my brother Raila Odinga had a different opinion of who should be the Minister of Finance. I told him that if there was one place I would defy him, it was in the appointment of a person from Luo Nyanza to be the first CS or Minister for Finance," Ruto intimated.
The Head of State explained that he decided to break certain stereotypes that certain positions belonged to certain communities in the country.
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"This was to correct a negative profiling of a whole community; that they don't care about poverty, or that the economy belongs to certain people," he reiterated.
Ruto made the revelation after he received a report from the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) on the Reparations of Victims of Human Rights Violations.
He disclosed that the government had set aside Ksh2 billion for the compensation and reparations of protest victims.
The President made it clear that the compensation was not a replacement for the lives lost or the physical and emotional scars, but an acknowledgement that harm was done.
He added that the compensation should not encourage violence from protesters or brutality from the law enforcement officers deployed to quell protests.
Ruto maintained that the right to protest, picket and demonstrate was not a government favour, but a Constitutional right entitled to every Kenyan.
The reparation of human rights violation victims during protests was part of the recommendations in the NADCO report and was central to the agreement between Ruto and the late Raila.
