President Ruto banks on bureaucrats not cronies for envoy jobs

President William Ruto has settled on career civil servants in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to serve as envoys, pointing to his trust in bureaucrats for diplomatic postings.

An analysis of the list of 27 prospects nominated by President Ruto for appointment as ambassadors, high commissioners and permanent representatives- shows they are collectively worth Sh3.4 billion.

The majority have served in various missions while others are officials in the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs and other professional bodies.

By settling on the diplomats, President Ruto has departed from the norm where such ambassadorial appointments have been used to reward politicians who were rejected at the ballot.

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This time round only Mr Irungo Kubai, who lost in the last General Election, has been nominated to serve in Somalia as well as Wilson Kogo who failed to defend his seat as Chesumei Member of Parliament.

Seven ambassadors

The nominees were vetted by by the National Assembly Committee on Defence, Intelligence, and Foreign Relations chaired by Belgut Member of Parliament Nelson Koech.

The list contains seven ambassadors—Isaac Keen Parashina (Nigeria), Philip Mundia Githiora (Mozambique), George Morara (Ethiopia), Betty Chebet (France), Fredrick Matwanga (Italy), Angeline Kavindu (Sweden) and Stella Orina (Germany).

Mr Orina has been the Deputy Director-General Foreign Service Academy since June 2023.

He has pleadged to entrench the economic diplomacy pillar, to pursue a better balance of trade between Kenya and Germany if approved for posting to Berlin.

Mr Matwanga, the Director for Economic and Commercial Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, and has previously served at the Kenyan UN Mission in Geneva.

He told the committee that if approved, he would foster mediation between Kenya and Italian authorities over the controversial Malindi Space Centre to pursue mutual interest.

Ms Musili impressed the committee which listened to her attentively for 30 minutes during her presentation. She joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1987 as a secretary and rose through the ranks.

Ms Musili exhibited a high understanding of Sweden; she has served at High Commission of Kenya in Harare and Cairo.

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In 2018 she was deployed to Europe. She has been the Director for the Americas and Caribbean Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs since May 2022.

Ms Chebet has been the chief protocol officer at the Foreign ministry since 2019 and has previously served as Counselor at the Embassy of the Republic of Kenya in Germany.

She told the committee that if approved, she will strive to address the trade imbalance between Paris and Nairobi which currently stands at 180 and 80 percent, respectively.

Demoralised diplomats

Committee chairman Mr Koech told Sunday Nation that previous administrations had demoralised career diplomats because they were overlooked and politicians handed jobs. He said this dimmed Kenya’s foreign policy.

“In every election cycle, we have had political rejects having soft landings as ambassadors and reports have shown that they perform dismally because of divided attention. The majority still harbour political ambitions back home,” Mr Koech said.

Dr Ruto also tapped into the field of academia by nominating Prof Emmy Jerono Kipsoi to serve as the Kenyan ambassador in Seoul, South Korea. She has been an Associate Professor in the Department of the Educational Foundations at Moi University since June 2015 told the committee that is approved.

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Ms Narimas Sharon Ole Sein (Madrid) joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1997 as lower cadre officer. She has risen to become the Director of Foreign Affairs in the Middle East, she has also served as a Protocol Director in the ministry and also a Personal Assistant to former Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed. Ms Sein has also worked in the Kenya Embassy in Tokyo and Stockholm.

Retreat

Mr Mohamed Nur Adan, who has been nominated as ambassador to Doha, Qatar is the serving Director for Administration in the office of the secretary Foreign Service. Mr Maurice Makoloo, who has been nominated to serve as Kenya’ ambassador to Vienna, Austria has been the Vice President of the Habitat for Humanity, Africa— which works with the African Union and member states.

Dr Ruto also nominated Lieutenant General Abert Kendagor to serve as the Kenyan ambassador to Tel Aviv, Israel. He served as a Commandant at the National Defence College between 2022- 2023.

Mr Mohamed Ruwange, who has been nominated to serve in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia served as a Senior Contracts Engineer at Occidental Petroleum Company since June 2019. He was previously a legal officer in the office of the Mombasa .

He told MPs that if approved by Parliament, he will push for standardisation of visa fees charged on Kenyans arriving in Saudi Arabia.

The committee retreated yesterday to write its report on the suitability of the nominees and is expected to table its findings for consideration by the House next week.

List of nominees and net worth