Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen .[File, Standard]
Nothing describes Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen more aptly than the adjective 'feckless'. As Cabinet Secretary (CS), his deportment makes one acutely aware of how public offices in Kenya are decomposing from within. What the Constitution under Article 73 treats as a solemn public trust has, under the current arrangement, become a tradable commodity dispensed for loyalty.
Cabinet posts are rarely filled on the strength of expertise anymore. They are given as rewards for partisan fidelity that overrides competence every time. Vetting by the National Assembly, envisaged as a Chapter Six integrity filter, has become a choreographed ritual of deference. The public ultimately foots the bill for administrative blunders, open impunity, and slow institutional decay.
Nothing illustrates the breakdown more clearly than repeated moments when senior functionaries step outside constitutional roles or show how out of depth they are. Mr Murkomen has been shifted from one high-stakes docket to another, from Roads to Interior, and slips, flashes of excess, and inflammatory comments at the worst times have marked each stint. From lecturing mourners to rationalising police excesses.
Instead of steady strategic direction, his appearances turn into defensive damage control. One wonders whether appointments and vetting ever test capability or only measure usefulness to political survival. Article 152 demands competent CSs, but practice demands loyalists who can mobilise constituencies and fundraise.
The erosion of boundaries hit a low point when former Health CS Susan Nakhumicha, at a funeral in Trans Nzoia, claimed powers belonging to the National Police Service Commission. She ordered transfer of a local OCS, citing a vague 'one government approach'. Treating her docket as a licence to command across departments, she rode roughshod over Articles 245 and 246 on police independence and revealed how officials treat portfolios as personal fiefdoms rather than constitutional mandates.
CS Aden Duale's past remarks about Eastleigh operations and his open defence of ethnic interests during counter-terrorism crackdowns raised questions about whether senior officials can separate statecraft from communal loyalty. These are not one-off gaffes. Together they form a pattern: Cabinet appointees treating constitutional offices as stages for political posturing and clan signalling.
The rot does not stop at Cabinet level. It percolates to Principal secretaries and heads of State corporations who must implement policy. Once patronage sets the tone at the top, accounting officers fall in line. Capable civil servants are pushed aside for well-connected individuals. Senior administrators operate as if political alignment offers permanent cover from oversight by the Auditor General and Public Service Commission.