After eight months of waiting, former head of criminal investigations Ndegwa Muhoro is among those finally cleared to take up new ambassadorial roles.
They include ex-Salaries and Remuneration Commission Chairperson Sarah Serem who was appointed last year by President Uhuru Kenyatta after his re-election.
“Today I held a final briefing with, and bid farewell to, our Ambassador and High Commissioner designates for China, Turkey, Qatar, Malaysia, and Israel, who will be departing shortly for their stations,” Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma said on her twitter handle.
Conferring with delegates at the summit, including the acting DG UNON, Mrs. @MaimunahSharif pic.twitter.com/o2PmRPYI2k
— Amb. Monica Juma (@Diplomacy_Kenya) February 1, 2019
On June 24, 2018, Uhuru dispatched a list of nine ambassadorial nominees and two principal secretaries to parliament for approval in his first reshuffle.
Muhoro and Serem head to the embassies in Malaysia and China respectively.
Muhoro left the Directorate of Criminal Investigations after a controversial tenure spanning seven years to replace Samori Ang’wa Okwiya in Kuala Lumpur.
On her part, Serem will replace Denis Mukiri Kinyanjui in Beijing after working at the Teachers Service Commission for six years.
“After the president’s public appointment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to write to the country the appointee is headed to and forward the new name. The country will now profile and do due diligence on the person appointed before getting back to the government,” a Ministry official told the Star on Sunday.
According to the MFA officials, the foreign country can accept the appointee or declare him/her persona non grata.
Others in the list that contained predominantly former civil servants and politicians who were cleared are former Kasipul Kabondo MP Paddy Ahenda (Qatar) and Johnson Kimani (Turkey).
However, the fate Peter Ogego Oginga (Saudi Arabia), Chris Karumba Mburu (Juba), and Benjamin Langat (Namibia) are not yet known.