Hiring of new envoys raises eyebrows amid claims of bias

By Ben Agina

NAIROBI, KENYA: An ongoing process of hiring new envoys is clouded in mystery with claims of nepotism and favouritism, which, informed sources say, is being done behind the back of the President and his deputy.

The process is said to have been initiated from the Office of the President before the General Election.

Those in the know say a similar scheme was being carried out in the recruitment of Principal Secretaries before the President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto stepped in.

Vetted by Parliament

The advert to employ new PSs was published just days before the last election and the process was going on when the new administration was taking office. But when Uhuru and Ruto took office, the advert cancelled and applicants asked to apply afresh.

With Uhuru and Ruto in the initial stages of forming the Government, queries are now being raised as to how the 32 envoys were recruited, appointed and deployed to various missions. The new Constitution makes it mandatory for envoys to be vetted by Parliament.

None of the 32 envoys designate have been vetted and thus their appointments could be challenged in court.   Since the enactment of the constitution no Ambassador has gone through parliamentary vetting for obvious reasons that the incumbents were serving their contracts some of which came to an end in December last year. Section 132 (2) of the Constitution states that the President shall nominate and with the approval of the National Assembly, appoint, and may dismiss high commissioners, ambassadors and diplomatic and consular representatives.

But in a departure from conventional practice where merit and experience are rewarded, the Office of the President in close consultation with the Foreign Affairs has gone ahead to pick 32 individuals for various mission stations.

Documents in our possession show how the individuals were handpicked between February and March at the height of election campaigns, and quietly advised to report to their stations despite President Kenyatta’s promise that his Government would re-organise all missions in line with modern trends. 

In one of the appointments letters, Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia enumerates the salary scale and allowances that the ambassadors will be entitled to.

“I am pleased to formally inform you that in exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency the President has appointed you to Kenya’s High Commissioner top the Republic of……. ,” said Kimemia in the letter. The position of Ambassador is graded at Job group  ‘T’ (Sh152,060) in the civil service grading structure.  Our efforts to contact Kimemia and Foreign Affairs PS Thuita Mwangi for the past two weeks have been fruitless. Our text message to both of them and also to the Director of Political and Diplomatic affairs at the Ministry, Patrick Wamoto, went unanswered.

Some of those who have already reported to their stations have neither been vetted nor taken through induction into the diplomatic corp as is the norm.

The Sunday Standard has also learnt the 52 ambassadors and high commissioners who had been recalled vide a letter from Kimemia have been asked to stay put until further notice.

Sharply criticised

The ambassadors were each contacted on phone and asked not to return home as was earlier directed.

Senior Government mandarins at MFA are now said to have devised a new tactic to deal with the replacement of the 52 ambassadors known in diplomatic parlance as “selective recourse” “They have resorted to this tactic because of the furore it would have generated. They will now be replaced in batches of four until the exercise is complete,” said our source.

However, Kenya’s Ambassador to the US Elkana Odembo has been given two weeks to return home.

The US is seen as strategic station for the Government and could be the reason why Foreign Affairs posted Koki Muli to New York as an Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative. Koki is in the list of 32 of the newly appointed ambassadors.

Recently Koki challenged the International Criminal Court’s role in prosecuting cases involving the country’s citizens and sharply criticised the ICC’s actual handling of those cases.

Also in the list of newly appointed ambassadors is Ms. Jean Kamau, who has been posted as the Deputy Head of Mission to Washington and would most likely replace Odembo.

Former Gwassi MP Zadock Syongoh who has been a policy advisor at the Ministry has also been elevated to an ambassador. He is yet to be allocated a station.

Another retired UN staff John Kakonge promoted to an ambassador and he is destined for Geneva. Kakonge is said to have had close ties with former Foreign Affairs Minister Prof Sam Ongeri. A former officer with the defunct Electoral commission of Kenya and also Head of Legal at the Ministry, Daniel Wambura has also been promoted.

Johnson Weru who was a junior officer at the Ministry has been promoted to ambassador and is said to have already taken up the Kenyan Mission in Brussels. Weru replaces Kembi Gitura who left the diplomatic corp and is now the Senator for Muranga County. A Nakuru businessman (name with held) who deals in shoes has been given ambassadorial position and posted to a mission in East Africa.

Another former employee at the ministry who had retired has been recalled and appointed ambassador. However he is yet to be allocated any station.  Micheal Kinyanjui who was Chief of Protocol has been promoted and is expected to take over from Julius Sunkuli in China. Sunkuli resigned and unsuccessfully contested the Narok Senatorial seat.