When the first 19 cabinet secretaries were sworn in on 8 August 2024, Ruto hoped that they would accelerate the country’s transformation. 

The constitution allows a cabinet of up to 26 members – the president, his deputy, the attorney general, a maximum of 22 cabinet secretaries, and the secretary to the cabinet.

Ruto added two more cabinet members, two weeks later. 

Following the impeachment of deputy president Rigathi Gachagua on 18 October, Ruto promoted interior cabinet secretary Kithure Kindiki to deputy on 1 November. On 17 January 2025 Ruto appointed three more cabinet secretaries – one to replace Kindiki and and two to fill the remaining two slots.

In March, Ruto publicly fell out with Justin Muturi, the cabinet secretary for Public Service and Human Capital Development, after Muturi accused him of failing to address a wave of youth abductions, including the kidnapping of Muturi’s own son. Ruto replaced Muturi with Geoffrey Ruku on 17 April. 

It therefore took nearly a year for Ruto’s cabinet to settle. Drawing on public reports of all their parliamentary vettings, we present a profile of the men and women in the president’s team. 

1. It’s a boys’ club, with 18 men and eight women

In his pre-election manifesto, Ruto, who took office in September 2022, promised that half of all cabinet positions would go to women. 

“We also have a special charter with women, which we have signed, and we have agreed that 50% of the Kenya Kwanza cabinet will be the women of the Republic of Kenya,” Ruto declared at the manifesto launch on 30 June of that year.

Kenya Kwanza is the political alliance that he leads.

Ruto also pledged to “execute and attain the two-thirds gender principle” within a year of taking office. The principle is a constitutional requirement that says not more than two-thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies can be of the same gender.

In August 2025, a month before Ruto’s third anniversary in power, only eight of the 26 cabinet members were women. 

These were the attorney general Dorcas Oduor, secretary to the cabinet Mercy Wanjau and six ministers – Soipan Tuya (Defence), Rebecca Miano (Tourism), Alice Wahome (Lands, Public Works and Housing), Deborah Barasa (Environment), Hanna Cheptumo (Gender, Culture and Children Services) and Beatrice Moe (East African Community). 

The remaining 18 members – 69% – were men.

2. A cabinet of elders, with one young member

On 5 August 2025, Ruto’s administration reiterated the mandatory retirement age at 60, or 65 for people with disabilities. 

The vetting records show five cabinet secretaries are over 60, and three are over 65. Seventeen are in their fifties, and only two are in their forties.

The average age is 54.6, high for a country where nearly two-thirds (65.7%) of the population is under 30.

No one under 30 sits in the cabinet. The youngest cabinet secretary is 33-year-old engineer Eric Mugaa. 

The oldest member is 69-year-old Wycliffe Oparanya. 

Among the women, Wahome is the oldest, at 66, and Barasa is the youngest, at 42. 

3. A wealthy cabinet: all multimillionaires, at least three in the-billion aire bracket

By law, all cabinet secretaries must declare their net worth.

Parliamentary vetting records showed all of Ruto’s current cabinet were multimillionaires, with fortunes in the tens or hundreds of-million s of shillings, from property, shares, savings and business. 

The combined declared worth was KSh19.4-billion (US$150-million at current rates). 

Prime cabinet secretary Musalia Mudavadi had the highest net worth, at KSh4-billion ($31-million ), while Mugaa, also the youngest, had the lowest net worth, of KSh31-million ($240 310). 

Three members are-billion aires: Mudavadi, William Kabogo (Information, Communication and Digital Economy), with KSh3.1-billion ($23.7-million ), and Hassan Ali Joho (Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs), with KSh2.3-billion or $17.8-million .

Ruto’s net worth is unknown. Some reports have had it at KSh51.6-billion ($400-million ), but this number is unverified. 

4. Degrees galore … and two are still studying

Except for the president, deputy president and the attorney general, whose qualifications are set by law, there is no legal requirement for a cabinet secretary in Kenya to have a degree.

But all Kenyan cabinet members are university graduates, with at least three – Ruto, his deputy Kindiki and Alfred Mutua (Labour and Social Protection) – holding doctoral degrees. 

Fourteen have master’s degrees as their highest education level and nine have first degrees. (See the complete list here.)

Oparanya (Cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development) has declared he is still pursuing a doctorate in economics at the University of Dar es Salaam, while Barasa has said she is studying for a master’s in infectious diseases at the London School of Tropical Medicine. 

5. Stacked with politicians, including former ministers 

Seventeen cabinet members or about two-thirds are seasoned politicians with experience in elective office. 

Five have been governors, three have served as senators and 13 have been members of the national assembly. 

Four of the five ex-governors started in the national assembly. 

Mutahi Kagwe (Agriculture) is the only cabinet member to have both served in the national assembly and the senate. 

Five members – Ruto, Mudavadi, Davis Chirchir (Roads and Transport), Oparanya and Kagwe – were ministers in previous governments.

See the complete list here. 

6. From critics to cabinet – Ruto’s unlikely allies

In a bid to hold on to power, Ruto brought in opposition politicians Hassan Joho, Oparanya, Opiyo Wandayi (Energy and Petroleum) and John Mbadi (National Treasury).

Before Ruto’s 2022 election, Joho, a former governor, called Ruto a “threat to devolution” and “a conman and a liar”. In 2019 Joho called Ruto “corrupt”. Now, he is one of the president’s staunchest defenders.

Oparanya opposed Ruto’s hustler fund meant to give Kenyans instant loans, but is now in charge of implementing it. 

As the minority leader, Wandayi accused Ruto of recklessness for ignoring El Niño warnings, bankrupting the country and “trying to institutionalise the culture of corruption”. He has since defended the administration and called for “respect” for Ruto.

Finance minister Mbadi once accused Ruto of mismanaging the economy, overtaxing and invading the privacy of Kenyans, and appointing a “deficient cabinet”. He now praises Ruto for giving him his dream job and has vowed not to betray him. 

These turnarounds show how political loyalty in Kenya shifts with pragmatism, ambition and the demands of power.

7. Just how professional is Ruto’s cabinet?

In Kenya, the push for a technocratic cabinet often clashes with the temptation to reward political loyalty. Ruto’s cabinet reflects both. 

In addition to political experience, it is heavy on lawyers (nine). There are also two accountants, a doctor, an engineer, a journalist and a handful of professionals from agriculture, marketing and social work. 

The cabinet also includes many politicians who became businessmen or businessmen who became politicians. Ruto also picked some bureaucrats from the civil service, while others were drawn from the private sector.

(See all the professions in Ruto’s cabinet here.) 

There’s a disclaimer however: dockets are fluid. For example, a medical doctor who was initially hired for the health docket was sent to the environment ministry, while a marketer who is a veteran politician heads the agriculture docket.

This could raise questions about whether professionalism will translate into effective delivery, but only time will tell.

Researched by Alphonce Shiundu