President William Ruto has appointed former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich as the Senior Advisor on Fiscal Affairs and Budget Policy in his office.
His appointment came two months after a Nairobi Court acquitted him and his co-accused in a case about the Ksh 63 billion Arror and Kimwarer dams scandal.
With a master’s in economics, Rotich has a long-standing experience in the finance sector having worked in various institutions and as an official in the National Treasury.
He also served as the Treasury CS in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government in the first term between 2013 and 2017.
When the Jubilee Party won the elections in 2017, Rotich was reinstated to the position but was forced to resign after his implication in the infamous scandal.
His tribulations started in 2019 when the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) pressed charges against him over his alleged involvement.
At first, Rotich was accused alongside other senior Treasury officials including then PS Dr Kamau Thugge and former PS Susan Jemutai Koech.
But the DPP dropped the charges against Thugge and Koech, leaving Rotich and his other co-accused facing the charges.
All this time, the former CS maintained that he was innocent amid the different angles and blame games emerging from the different twists in the saga.
On December 14, 2023, the court handling his case said the DPP failed to adduce enough evidence proving he was culpable and therefore acquitted him.
“No evidence was adduced to show that there was a payment of 75,423,000 Euros in respect of Kimwarer multipurpose dam and that the same was made was made without lawful authority if at all,” the magistrate ruled.
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The former Banker now joins the team of advisors working with President Ruto.
Among the notable names in the advisors’ team include David Ndii who is the Chairperson of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors and former Trade Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed.
Also Read: Ex-CS Henry Rotich Cleared in Arror and Kimwarer Scandal
Shortly after the formation of the Kenya Kwanza government, former Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma in Uhuru’s tenure found a soft landing after her appointment as the President’s advisor on national security.
In 2023, Ruto also appointed former Energy CS Charles Keter as his advisor on Great Lakes Region Affairs.
