By Isaac Ongiri

The face of the next Cabinet to be named by Kenya's fourth President is taking shape and going by a secret proposal inside Government, it will only have 19 ministries. What is left now is for the Cabinet to adopt the proposal prepared by the Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura, which strives to satisfy the Constitutional requirement for not less than 14 and not more than 22 Cabinet secretaries, who will replace the current cadre, referred to as ministers.

In a confidential proposal obtained by The Standard, several related ministries have been merged and ministerial functions restructured to give way to a lean but powerful cabinet to meet the demands of the Constitution. According to the Constitution, the President, his deputy and the Attorney General will also be part of the Cabinet whose other members will not hold elective political seats, as is the case presently.

Five current ministries have been combined to create a solid Ministry of Agriculture while six others have been put together under a revamped Ministry of Home Affairs. The new Ministry of Agriculture will take charge of 40 State functions and have elaborate control over 42 State corporations to make it the largest portfolio in the next Government.

The new proposal combines the current ministries of Agriculture now under Dr Sally Kosgei, Ministry of Livestock (Dr Mohamed Kuti), Fisheries (Mr Amason Kingi), Co-operatives (Mr Joseph Nyagah) and Water and Irrigation (Mrs Charity Ngilu). Currently under Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, the Home Affairs docket would be a powerful combination of the following ministries under the bloated Grand Coalition Cabinet: Immigration, National Heritage and Culture, Special Programmes, Development of Northern Kenya, and the Provincial Administration.

The ministry will take charge of the restructured Provincial Administration including County Co-ordinators, District Commissioners, Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs while the National Police Service Commission, National Intelligence, and Defence Council will remain at the Ministry of National Security, which has been merged with that of Defence.

Renamed

The Ministry of Local Government currently under Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi has been renamed Ministry of Devolution and County Governments. The new docket combines the current ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan and Local Government and will take charge of Devolution.

Other ministries proposed to be merged include Ministry of East African Community and Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as Ministry of Roads and Ministry of Public Works. The Ministry of Industrialisation, Ministry of Regional Development and Ministry of Trade have been lumped together under the proposed Ministry of Trade and Industrialisation.

Functions currently under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development will be moved to the new Ministry of Gender, Children, Youth and Sports.

Other merged ministries include Lands and Housing while Labour and Ministry of State for Public Service will also been lumped together, same as the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources and Forestry and Wildlife â€" which will be docketed under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. The Ministry of Basic Education and the Ministry of Higher Education will now be under the Ministry of Education. Monday, a team of technocrats from the Cabinet Office and five university dons were finalising a report on the proposal that would be presented to President Kibaki before the report can be adopted.

Implementation

"We are now finalising a report that will be presented to the President together with the proposal," revealed an official at the Cabinet Office who cannot be named. Several MPs hailed Muthaura's office for the proposal with some calling on President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to immediately implement it. Lagdera MP Farah Maalim who is also the Deputy Speaker termed the proposal laudable and timely preparation for the next Government.

Maalim said the proposed Government structure should be implemented and tried for five years under the new Government without alteration. "That is where we ought to have been long time ago. Other bigger democracies have had to do with very lean governments and their performance has been exemplary," Maalim said. Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi called for the immediate implementation of the proposal to cut down on cost of governance.

"The proposal is a great idea. I want to challenge the Government to go ahead and implement it now," Linturi said. He called on Kibaki and Raila to initiate talks on how to relieve baggage from the Grand Coalition Government by implementing Muthaura's proposal. "The National Accord will still be on course because the Party of National Unity can still get its half and the Orange Democratic Movement its half if the two can agree to do away with this convoluted Cabinet," he stated.

Kisumu Town West MP Olago Aluoch, however, warned that a proposal to combine five current ministries and the Ministry of Agriculture risked over-burdening the ministry and watering down key dockets like the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. Olago who spoke on arrival from Tel Aviv, Israel, argued that the ministries of Livestock and that of Co-operatives should be removed from the Ministry of Agriculture in the proposal.

"Muthaura's proposal is good but the Co-operative and Livestock dockets should be taken elsewhere so that the Ministry takes full charge of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water and Irrigation," suggested Olago. Section 152 (1) allows the President to appoint no fewer than 14 and no more that 22 Cabinet Secretaries in a Cabinet that also includes the President, Deputy President and the AG. The current Cabinet has 41 ministers, and is the largest in the history of Kenya since Independence, and was expanded as part of the 2008 power-sharing deal to accommodate the interests of the coalition partners.