61 percent of Kenyans want former Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki re-appointed as CS, a poll by Trends and Insights For Africa (TIFA) shows.
The poll released on Thursday, July 18, 2024, also revealed that 48 percent of the respondents want former ICT and Digital Economy CS Eliud Owalo re-appointed whereas 23 percent of the respondents agreed that former Education CS Ezekiel Machogu should be reinstated.
The 1,507 interviewed respondents from the 47 counties categorically indicated that the three were the top-performing CSs. The data was collected via telephonic interviews at the household level between July 16, and July 17, 2024.
According to the polls, the North Eastern region topped the list of those who favoured the re-appointment of performing CSs, with 63% of respondents supporting the idea.
Central region came in second with 47%, followed by Rift Valley with 46%.
41% of respondents from the Eastern and Western regions agreed with TIFA’s question that President William Ruto should re-appoint performing Cabinet Secretaries to the next cabinet.
The Coastal (38%), Nairobi (25%), and Nyanza regions showed slightly lower support for the re-appointment of the fired CSs based on their performance before they were shown the door.
However, the majority of Kenyans interviewed by TIFA opposed the retention of former Water and Sanitation Cabinet Secretary Zachariah Njeru
“A significant proportion 40% of Kenyans felt that performing Cabinet Secretaries should be re-appointed. Kithure Kindiki, Eliud Owalo and Ezekiel Machogu were amongst the top three mentions for CSs who Kenyans would want to be re-appointed,” TIFA said.
This comes a week after President William Ruto bowed to the youth’s pressure and dissolved his entire cabinet leaving his deputy Rigathi Gachagua and Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi.
The move marked the second cabinet change since he took office in September 2022.
“I have decided to dismiss with immediate effect all the Cabinet Secretaries and Attorney General of the Cabinet of Kenya except the Prime Cabinet Secretary and the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Affairs and of course, the Office of the Deputy President is not affected in any way,” he said on Thursday, July 11, 2024.
The president further assured the nation that he would engage in extensive consultations across different sectors and political formations as well as Kenyans.