Defense Cabinet Secretary nominee Soipan Tuya has pledged to employ a consultative leadership style to deepen her understanding of military operations.
Tuya who was vetted on Thursday afternoon by the national assembly committee on appointments, said although she had no military background, her vast experience in policy design, analysis and oversight in both the public and private sector including the civil service poised her for the position.
Describing herself as a team player and a fast learner, she said upon confirmation her immediate role would be to chair the Defence Council to build an understanding of the diverse roles of the armed forces.
“I have no military background and the Ministry of Defence has both a uniformed unit and a civilian unit. I am a team player by design and practice. I am also very consultative in my leadership philosophy and these are skill sets that I will have to employ heavily in terms of the need to understand the operational and administrative role of the uniformed side of the Ministry” she told the committee chaired by Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula.
“ I can give assurance that I am a team player and a fast learner and will be ready to critically understand operations of the service without interfering with those very distinct roles of the military, my consultative style will boost my understanding of the operations of the Military will be sufficient as I have no background in defence” she added.
Tuya was the 5th and last candidate to face the panel on day one of the vetting exercise. She also responded to a question regarding the safety of military choppers following a series of military aircraft crashes.
She promised to undertake a comprehensive assessment of all the equipment, once she assumes office.
“…The issue of equipment particularly the air assets is a major concern and my mandate will be to assess the maintenance and efficacy of these equipment” she said.
President William Ruto nominated Tuya back to the government after dismissing his entire cabinet.
The immediate former environment CS had an opportunity to highlight her various successes.
”As a former CS Environment, I pride myself in successfully coordinating the various players in the environment and climate change sector. My other key priority was our ecosystem restoration program which I believe I attained a significant amount of success”
Additionally, she promised to introduce sweeping changes to streamline the KDF recruitment which has been characterised by corruption in the past and also review the gender policy to increase women’s leadership within the armed forces.
“ We have so far made a lot of progress and I will maximise the same to ensure women find their space in the KDF. We don’t want them to be limited” she emphasized.
She declared her net worth had grown from Ksh156 million to Ksh243 million largely due to the appreciation of assets, private businesses and acquisition of assets in Nairobi.
The committee will conclude the vetting on Sunday before retreating to write a report that will be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday next week.
