Religious leaders under the Ufungamano-Joint Forum of Religious Organizations (U-JFRO) have called on President William Ruto to appoint a Cabinet of no more than 16 Cabinet Secretaries.
In a statement issued Friday, the leaders recommended the appointment of two Cabinet Secretaries per region and one Principal Secretary per ministry.
“Appointment of two CSs per region is ideal. In terms of management, a ministry does not require more than one Principal Secretary. A Cabinet Secretary (CS) should be in charge of one Principal Secretary, who should be in charge of departmental heads,” the statement reads.
The religious leaders also recommended salary cuts for all state officers, including MPs, Senators, Governors, MCAs, and other senior public servants, by at least 40% to reduce government expenditure.
Additionally, the clergy wants the number of constituencies and elected members of the National Assembly to be reduced to 150, down from the current 290.
“In many countries, MPs not only represent a much larger constituency but also provide a very high level of service. On the other hand, according to recent surveys and Hansard reports, some MPs attend Parliament but contribute very little to the debates.”
They further argued that counties should be clustered into viable economic blocs, proposing the reduction of counties from 47 to 16, with the current counties becoming sub-counties.
“This could easily be achieved if the previous provinces were split into two counties each, the Rift Valley split into three counties because of its larger size, and Nairobi retained as one county.”
The leaders explained that reviewing the number of counties would reduce the number of Senators from the current 67 to 32, with each county electing one male and one female senator to promote gender balance.
“U-JFRO proposes that in the next General Elections, senators should be elected in the new reduced number of counties, and each county should elect one male and one female senator, similar to the US model.”
The proposals by the religious leaders come just a day after President Ruto dismissed all Cabinet Secretaries and the Attorney General, except for Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi.
