Partnership for Change

Objective One

Rationalizing the size of the Central Government

What can YOU do?
You can advocate, and educate Kenyans on the need for a reduction in the size of the Government of Kenya; the enactment of a statute pursuant to section 16 of the Constitution to cap the number of Executive Cabinet Ministries; and the need for integrity criteria for public service.

Why?
The Grand Coalition Government established after the National Accord is the largest and most expensive cabinet in Kenya's history. The economic situation requires the Government of Kenya to immediately demonstrate austerity measures, including the reduction of the number of ministries to a reasonable number. At Independence there were 13 ministries today there are 43. Kenyans cannot afford to maintain a bloated Cabinet of 93 Ministers and Assistant Ministers. Many of the 43 Ministries in the Grand Coalition Government have no developmental added value and are mere sinecure positions for The President and Prime Minister to fill. The way forward is to bring section 16 of the Constitution into effect by enactment of a law capping the size of cabinet, as proposed by a motion sponsored by Ethuro Ekwe, and as already approved by the 9th Parliament. This strategy has the additional potential benefit to the country of causing the exit of corrupt ministers within the Cabinet as part of the rationalization of the Grand Coalition Government.

Call to Action
Join The Partnership for Change campaign for a Lean, Clean and Efficient Cabinet and ask all Kenyans to

1. Campaign for a lean, clean cabinet; creating effective demand for reduction of the number of Cabinet Ministers and an insistence on integrity as a criteria for appointment to Cabinet

2. Campaign for Parliament to move to cap the number of ministries as per section 16 of the Constitution to 13, to remove future abuse by Appointing Authorities, and to thus reduce recurrent expenditure resulting from a bloated cabinet freeing up resources for development expenditure.

3. Campaign for lustration and removal of corrupt individuals from cabinet and public offices with immediate effect.