Vetting of Cabinet Secretaries nominees started with Prof Kithure Kindiki( Interior) who spoke of their interest to work for Kenyans if approved by parliament.
Others were Dr Deborah Mlongo Baraza (Health) and Alice Wahome (Lands and Housing) who appeared before the parliamentary appointment committee chaired by Speaker Moses Wetangula.
Kithure said he was worth Sh694 million with homes in Nairobi and Tharaka Nithi with an estimated value of Sh190 million.”I have land and a building worth Sh235 million. The increase in my net worth comes primarily from my law practice. I have not engaged in any business with the government or applied for any tenders directly or indirectly,” he declared.
Barasa who said she could work and deliver quality health care to the 50 million Kenyans if approved said she had renewed her practising license with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Council (KMPDC). The license had expired in 2020, she informed the vetting committee when she was World Health Organisation as a policy adviser.
She said, “In 2020, I joined WHO, an independent entity affiliated with the UN, serving as an international civil servant and providing services to 22 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, as well as the 47 member states in the Afro Region.” Wahome said her family’s net worth is 327 million up from 218 million in 2022, attributing the rise to an appreciation of property value.
Wahome said it would cost the government between Sh35 billion to Sh40 billion to complete digitalization programme in the land registries. “We are done with Nairobi, and the exercise is ongoing in Mombasa. We will be finished with Isiolo within the next month,” she said.
The digitalization which started back in the year 2018, is a rigorous process that includes validation and manual verification of the records of all the departments from different state departments. Wahome said the ministry is working closely with 27 counties in conducting the exercise.
She was responding to a question by Likoni MP Mishi Mboko who wanted her to outline the digitisation roadmap. “The government through the Ministry of Lands in consultation with key stakeholders in the real estate sector embarked on digitisation of land records to migrate information relating to land from manual registers to a digital database,” she said.