President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi. PHOTO | WILLIAM OERI | NMG
Summary
- The Public Service Commission to take up role, which includes setting up their salaries
- The aides will have to meet tough conditions set by the commission such as having skills and qualifications for the job
- The advisers will only be tapped from outside the civil service if there is no public servant with the skills required.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto will lose
the powers to hire special advisers if a new set of regulations is
adopted.
The proposals state that these appointments
will be done by the Public Service Commission (PSC), which will also set
their salaries and perks.
The top executives have had a free hand in picking their special advisers who draw salaries from public coffers.
“The
commission may consider appointment of advisers for the executive
office of the President,” the PSC chairperson Margaret Kobia says in the
proposed regulations, which are currently the subject of public debate.
“Subject
to these regulations, the executive office of the President shall be
entitled to such number of advisers as shall be necessary for carrying
out the functions of office and as approved by the commission.”
Tough conditions
The
aides will have to meet tough conditions set by the commission such as
having skills and qualifications for the job, free from graft and
unethical behaviour and will not direct or supervise other public
servants.
The advisers will only be tapped from outside the civil service if there is no public servant with the skills required.
The current and former presidents have preferred to tap outsiders for the position.
President Kenyatta’s advisers and those of Mr Ruto enjoy hefty perks such as government vehicles, drivers and bodyguards.
According
to the Office of the President website, Mr Ruto has tapped Prof
Hiroyuki Hino as his economic adviser and Dr Korir Sing’oei as his legal
advisor.
Economic adviser
Prof
Hino served in the same capacity under former prime minister Raila
Odinga. He was seconded by the United Nations Development Programme to
improve governance and trigger economic growth.
Abdikadir Mohamed serves as Mr Kenyatta’s senior adviser on constitutional and legal affairs.
The two top executives had 20 special advisers by end of 2014, some 18 months in power, working full time.
They include political, agriculture and food security, regional integration, legal affairs and education advisers.
ALSO READ: Uhuru, ex-presidents to lose power of hiring own staf
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