Fred Matiang'i: Profile of Uhuru’s Mr Fix It

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i, at Flamingo beach hotel in Mombasa on January 21, 2019, displays the new biometric card for licensed gun holders. He said firearms should not be held by irresponsible people. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • It was at the ICT Ministry that Dr Matiang’i’s ruthlessness was seen when he pushed the media to adopt the digital migration and ruled out turning back to analogue.
  • It was his prowess at the Education ministry that saw him become the obvious choice of acting Minister for Interior after the death of Joseph Nkaissery.

When President Uhuru Kenyatta named his first Cabinet on the afternoon of April 23, 2013, the first name on the list was Dr Fred Matiang’i … and, perhaps, with good reason.

Dr Matiang’i was then little-known outside the civil society circles where he had been the country director of the Kenya Parliamentary Support Programme.

Apart from having a good CV — he has a PhD in comparative literature — all that was known was that Dr Matiang’i had done some communication consultancies for the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.

President Kenyatta had poached him from the lofty position of Eastern Africa Regional Representative for the Centre for International Development, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, in the State University of New York (SUNY).

MEETING

At the political level, his dalliance with politics was as a close ally — some say adviser — of former Cabinet minister Simeon Nyachae since his days as minister for Finance. That was before he joined the civil society.

While his 2013 appointment was surprising to those who didn’t know him, the President had met Dr Matiang’i when he was running the Kenya Parliamentary Support Programme which was then financing the parliamentary broadcasting service and digitising the proceedings.

His close allies say the two had some rapport when Mr Kenyatta was the leader of the Opposition — during President Kibaki’s first term — and later on when Mr Kenyatta was the Deputy Prime Minister in the coalition government.

From his office at Landmark Plaza in Nairobi’s Upper Hill, Dr Matiang’i built good political networks — both local and international — and this, combined with his efficiency, worked for him as Jubilee started shopping for those who could turn its manifesto into reality.

GROWTH

Dr Matiang’i had been brought in to man the rollout of the e-government service which was by then the heart of Jubilee’s campaign promise of a digital revolution.

As the man in charge of Information Communication and Technology docket, Dr Matiang’i’s role also included national transit to digital TV from analogue ahead of a switch-off deadline and make sense of the moribund Konza Technology City, the country’s futuristic “Silicon Savannah” city.

The entry of Dr Matiang’i into Jubilee — and his rise within the ranks as one of the most notable Cabinet secretaries — has been attributed to his efficiency, his no-nonsense, humourless, and plain-speaking nature.

“I do not compromise on standards,” Dr Matiang'i once told this writer.

Inside the Ministry of Interior, where he has been since the July 2017 death of Security Minister Joseph Nkaissery, Dr Matiang’i has been known for his high energy levels.

“He can call a meeting as early as 5.45am especially when there is a crisis,” says a government official.

DIGITAL

An ardent Seventh Day adherent, Dr Matiang’i also works on Sundays. “Nobody is allowed to engage him on Saturdays. Only the President,” says the official.

It was at the ICT Ministry that Dr Matiang’i’s ruthlessness was seen when he pushed the media to adopt the digital migration and ruled out turning back to analogue.

"Going back to analogue is not on the table. We are not going back there," Dr Matiang'i told a Senate Committee on Legal and Human Rights after the Supreme Court ordered that the digital migration should go on as planned.

Dr Matiang’i ignored a plea by Standard Group, Nation Media Group and Royal Media Services for more time to import their transmitters and set-top boxes and, as Kenya’s main TV stations were switched off, Dr Matiang’i did not budge. Finally, he won the battle.

EXAM LEAKAGE

His second test was at the Ministry of Education which had been turned into a playground by examination racketeers who had infiltrated the Kenya National Examinations Council and profited by leaking exam papers to schools and candidates.

Dr Matiang’i had been appointed to replace Prof Joseph Kaimenyi, who had overseen the worst exam leakage in history.

In the 2016 exam, only 141 candidates managed to score a mean grade of A plain in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination, a shocking drop from 2,636 candidates who attained the grade in the previous year.

"It is a true and credible reflection of what our students are capable of without leakage and manipulation of figures,” Dr Matiang’i said.

There was suspicion that the 2015 KCSE had leaked and this saw schools get a record number of “A”s.

A school which had 212 “A”s could only get two after Dr Matiang’i started his crackdown on cheating.

ELECTIONS

It was his prowess at the Education ministry that saw him become the obvious choice of acting Minister for Interior after the death of Joseph Nkaissery — some months ahead of the General Election.

Like Dr Matiang’i, Gen Nkaiserry was a no-nonsense ex-soldier who didn’t suffer fools gladly.

If President Kenyatta was looking for an efficient and ruthless person to replace Gen Nkaiserry, then Dr Matiang’i was the obvious choice.

President Kenyatta had poached Gen Nkaiserry from the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and he turned against his colleagues who were always challenging the State for a fight.

“President Kenyatta was looking for a workaholic who could get things done faster,” says a close friend of the CS.

The run-up to the election was emotive as the National Super Alliance of Raila Odinga made a serious challenge to President Kenyatta’s Jubilee.

Riots, mayhem and acrimony marked the electoral process and this threw Dr Matiang’i into the centre of politics.

EFFICIENT

A man who can easily get frustrated, Dr Matiang’i was at the beginning the mask of Jubilee’s crackdown on lawbreakers. Soon, he became its face, earning both friend and foe alike.

It was the crackdown on corruption cartels and the importers of substandard goods that recently put Dr Matiang’i on the road to stardom.

“This is not an easy task,” he once told this writer — off the cuff. “But it has to be done by somebody, by some Kenyan.”

With his new role at the Presidency, gone are the days when his close friends thought he would be appointed head of civil service in the first Jubilee administration.

A teetotaller who doesn’t eat pork, Dr Matiang’i appears to be the new face of the Jubilee administration and how he moves to solidify his role as a “Super Minister” will determine the legacy of President Kenya.