• Gladys Boss Shollei has stated that Cabinet Secretaries (CS) are not required to have studied their assigned dockets provided that they are visionary leaders
• Shollei argued that individuals are appointed to leadership positions only if they are committed to championing the board’s visions
• She argued that in the National Assembly, one can have no education but sit in a particular committee with the aid of clerks who act as the technical staff
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss Shollei has stated that Cabinet Secretaries (CS) are not required to have studied their assigned dockets provided that they are “visionary leaders”.
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss Shollei.
This she said on Monday at Citizen TV’s Daybreak show where she was defending the appointments of certain individuals into public offices by President William Ruto, among whom have questionable track records.
Deputy Speaker Shollei was prompted to make her argument after the show’s host Sam Gituku fronted her to answer to the criteria used to appoint former Sports Cabinet Secretary (CS) Rashid Echesa to be the Chairperson of the Kenya Water Towers Agency Board despite him having only attained primary level education.
“If you look at his (Echesa) education background, I don’t think it goes beyond primary school but now he is the Chairperson of the Kenya Water Towers agency what is this that he has to balance when he (President Ruto) picks people to run such offices,” posed Gituku.
In her quick rejoinder, Shollei argued that individuals are appointed to leadership positions only if they are committed to championing the board’s visions.
She added that the individuals are then guided by a team of “technical officers” who are qualified to execute the mandates of the respective boards.
“The issue is you appoint people and in some of these positions you have technical officers who actually are qualified. We can give the example of a Cabinet Secretary doesn’t have to be an expert or should have studied that particular docket but the point is are they a visionary leader?” she paused.
“If they are, then they will rely on the technical staff who already exist and have been in the ministry for years who are hired for their technical capabilities that is what you look at.”
The Uasin Gishu county MP went on to note that the appointees are only fired when they prove to be incompetent.
“If that person is not able to provide the visionary leadership that is required then they can be fired from the job. The problem is keeping someone if they are incompetent, let us see if they are capable of doing it,” she said.
Citing another example, Shollei stated that in the National Assembly, one can have no education but sit in a particular committee with the aid of clerks who act as the “technical staff”.
“Even when we are in parliament we pass legislation, we oversight the executive but the qualification of a member of parliament is just post-secondary education but it does not mean that those MPs are not capable of undertaking their duties,” she said.
“When we sit in parliament even without any education you can sit in the health committee but we have clerks who are technical officers who provide the technical support to those MPs.”
