Several senior government officials, while still drawing their salaries and exercising state power, are actively laying political groundwork in their home regions, courting voters, attending burials, and making appearances that stretch well beyond their official mandates.
Among those mentioned is State House Comptroller Katoo Ole Metito, Mining CS Hassan Joho, Kenya Revenue Authority Board Chair Ndiritu Muriithi, Defence CS Soipan Tuya, and Information CS William Kabogo.
Also in the mix are Investments CS Lee Kinyanjui, Tourism CS Rebecca Miano, Lands CS Alice Wahome, and Co-operatives CS Wycliffe Oparanya each reportedly keeping one eye on their docket and the other firmly on 2027.
The Constitution is clear. Article 77(2) bars any appointed state officer from holding office in a political party.
Electoral law goes further, requiring officials intending to contest seats to resign within a stipulated period before the election. Yet the line between governance and campaigning has never looked thinner.
Across the country, Cabinet Secretaries are doubling as political messengers, using public rallies, town hall meetings, and so-called development inspections to sell the government's agenda while subtly undermining opposition voices.
CS Joho acknowledged the undercurrent plainly. "Many have walked this political journey for a long time. There is no political heat yet we are currently working as Cabinet Secretaries. The time for politics will come," he said.
That time, analysts warn, is arriving faster than the law would prefer. Permitting appointed officers to campaign while still in office hands them an unfair advantage over other aspirants and opens the door to the misuse of public resources — the very scenario Kenya's constitutional integrity provisions exist to prevent.
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