President William Ruto on Friday, July 11 dropped his first batch of nominees to assume Cabinet Seceretary positions in his new Cabinet.
He was speaking in a press briefing where he stated that he arrived at the names of the 11 nominated ministers following extensive consultations with his allies in the government.
Some of the names unveiled have been retained from the previous Cabinet with new picks from different sectors nominated to take over roles from the dismissed CSs.
Among those who have bounced back include Kithure Kindiki who was served as the Interior CS ,Aden Duale who served as Defence CS, Soipan Tuya who served as Environment CS and Alice Wahome who served as Lands CS.
Others include David Chirchir who was the former Energy CS and now has been nominated to the Roads and Transport docket and former Trade CS Rebecca Miano who has been nominated as the new Attorney General, replacing Justin Muturi.
Among the new faces nominated include Deborah Mulongo Barasa (Health) , Margaret Nyambura (ICT), Julius Milos Ogamba (Education), Eric Muriithi Muga (Water) and Dr Andrew Mwihia Karanja (Agriculture).
Here are the short profiles of the new nominated CSs:
Deborah Mulongo Barasa ( Health)
Deborah Mulongo Barasa was nominated to take over from former CS Susan Nakhumicha in the Ministry of Health. A doctor by profession specialising in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, she is a decorated technical advisor serving in medical instutitions on national, referral and international levels.
Mulongo studied at the University of Nairobi where she attained her degree in Medicine and Surgery in 2006. She also holds a Masters in Internal Medicine from UoN that she attained in 2017 and is currently undertaking another one in Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
She has over 15 years experience as a senior medical officer having worked in health institutions such as the CHANF Hospital, Mater Hospital and the World Health Organisation.
She co-led the infectious disease pillar addressing outbreak-prone infections such as Respiratory infections (COVID-19, diphtheria), viral haemorrhagic fevers (Ebola, SVD), and contagious diarrhoea (cholera) among others.
Dr Andrew Mwihia Karanja (Agriculture)
Dr. Karanja has over 36 years experience in public sector both locally and internationally in the fields of development economics, rural development and finance, agriculture and livestock development.
He started his career as an extension officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. He also worked as a Planning Officer in the same ministry. Later he joined Coffee Research Foundation (CRF) as a Research Officer/Agricultural Economist where he rose to Senior Agricultural Economist and Head of Economics Department.
Dr. Karanja joined the World Bank in 2003, as an Agricultural Economist.
He has a PHD in Development Economics and Policy from the Netherlands’ Wagenigen University and Masters on Agricultural Economics from the University of Nairobi.
Eric Muriithi Muga (Water)
Mugaa Murithi Eric is a Civil Engineer and a water resource enthusiast with over 8 years experience with handson experience in Operations and Management of Engineering Projects.
The 32-year-old engineer is well-versed in Water Hydraulic Modeling, Design of Water and Wastewater Networks and Water Treatement Plants and other water structures.
He has a Masters in Civil Engineering (Water Resources) from the University of Nairobi. He attained first class honours in his Bachelors degree in Civil and Construction Engineering from UoN.
Julius Milos Ogamba (Education)
Julius Milos Ogamba is the current board chairman of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company( KENGEN) and he has been selected to take over from Ezekiel Machogu in the Education docket.
A lawyer by profession, Ogamba has over 25 years of experience in legal practice, and is a senior advocate at his law firm Migos-Ogamba & Waudo Advocates.
He has a post graduate Diploma in Law and a Bachelor’s of Law degree from the University of Nairobi.
Dr Margaret Nyambura (ICT)
Dr. Margaret Nyambura Ndung’u, PhD, is a renowned expert in Internet Governance. Her expertise ranges from fields such as Internet infrastructure, Al, Machine Learning, cybersecurity, to data governance.
Her accomplishments include contributing to the African Union Digital Transformation Strategy and sectoral strategies for Education, Health, and Agriculture.
Dr. Ndung’u also played a key role in developing and implementing the African Union Data Policy Framework. She is credited for coordinating a six-module online Internet Governance curriculum used by 30 National and Regional Schools across Africa. She also developed a 10-module course for The Pan African University Institute.
Dr Ndung’u attained her PHD in information Systems from the University of Nairobi, as well as did a Post -Doctorate Fellowship at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa.
She has a MBA in Management Science from the University of Nairobi and a degree in Information Science from Moi University.
The nominees are the first batch of candidates selected by President Ruto and are to be presented before Parliament for vetting.
