Muna Wahome

26 January 2012

Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday stepped down as Finance minister, succumbing to a jinx that has haunted holders of that docket since 1993.

The Deputy Prime Minister bowed out of his 10th floor Treasury Buildings office after three years, after the International Criminal Court committed him to stand trial for crimes against humanity arising from the 2007-2008 post-election violence.

Mr Kenyatta becomes the eighth occupant to leave the office prematurely since Prof George Saitoti served two terms after which his third was cut short under pressure from the Bretton Woods over the Goldenberg scandal in 1993.

For Mr Kenyatta, the only saving grace is that he is the only Finance minister during President Kibaki's era to quit without the burden of controversy arising from his operations at the Treasury.

Previously, David Mwiraria resigned over the Anglo Leasing scandal while Amos Kimunya was shown the red card by Parliament over the Laico Regency (then Grand Regency) sale to a Libyan company.

President Kibaki on Thursday announced that he had accepted Mr Kenyatta's decision to step aside as Finance minister.

However, he said Mr Kenyatta would retain his position of Deputy Prime Minister "in accordance with the Constitution".

The President also accepted Francis Muthaura's request to step aside as Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Public Service.

Francis Kimemia, the permanent secretary in the Internal Security Ministry will temporarily hold Mr Muthaura's position.

Mutea Iringo will succeed Mr Kimemia at Internal Security while Mr Njeru Githae, also the Nairobi Metropolitan minister, will be the acting Finance minister.

Both Mr Muthaura and Mr Kenyatta have been under pressure to quit their positions after they were committed to trial by the International Criminal Court over the 2007/8 post-election violence on Monday.

Mr Kibaki's action throws further confusion over the implementation of the Constitution Chapter 6 on integrity given that Attorney-General Githu Muigai had indicated that the two would remain in office after they appealed the ICC ruling.

Protests from coalition partner ODM might have changed the equation.

What surprised the country most though was the appointment of Mr Githae to act in Mr Kenyatta's position.

A relative newcomer in substantive government operations, Mr Githae now faces the daunting task of having Parliament pass the stalled Finance Bill 2011 without succumbing to MPs' demands for enhanced severance pay.

Mr Githae wades headlong into the Budget-making process which kicked off last November, with the task of preparing financing for the first devolution elections and setting up of county structures.

Born in 1957 and elected to Parliament in 2003, Mr Githae previously worked as an assistant minister for Local Government.

He holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Nairobi and a diploma from the Kenya School of Law.

Previously, he worked as the general manager of Mae Properties, a subsidiary of listed underwriter Pan Africa.

Political observers read his appointment more as a pointed dig at Mr Kenyatta's presidential contest rival, Martha Karua, the former Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister who has thrown her hat in the presidential elections ring.

While the President talked of Mr Kenyatta having stepped aside, it is unlikely that the Deputy Prime Minister will return to his position any time soon.

Save for an appeal at the ICC succeeding, going to full trial would mean years of litigation at The Hague, which could as well include the next five-year electoral cycle.

Mr Kenyatta succeeded Mr Kimunya in January 2009, with minister John Michuki having acted in the position since the July 2008 resignation of Mr Kimunya.

Mr Kenyatta will be remembered for the most ambitious Budget in Kenya's history.

Last year, he unveiled a Sh1.115 trillion Budget which he recently had to scale down. The logic of his budgets and those of Mr Kimunya has been to get the economy taking off after the post-election violence and economic slowdown in the key European and American markets. The unintended consequence has been massive expansion in money supply and inflation.mwahome@ke.nationmedia.com