Monica Juma appointed UNODC Executive Director, UN Office at Vienna chief

Former Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma. [File, Standard]

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Monica Kathina Juma as Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV).

In a statement released on Friday, the UN said Juma will succeed Ghada Fathi Waly of Egypt, whose term at the helm of the global agency has come to an end.

“The Secretary-General is grateful to Ms. Waly for her dedicated service to the Organization,” the statement said.

Currently, Juma serves as National Security Adviser to President William Ruto and Secretary to Kenya’s National Security Council, a role she has held since 2022.

According to the UN, Juma is “a strategic senior leader with a depth of expertise, experience and knowledge spanning public policy making, execution and academia across critical areas of security, diplomacy and governance.”

She previously served in several key roles in the Kenyan government, including Cabinet Secretary for Energy between 2021 and 2022, Defence between 2020 and 2021, and Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2020. She also briefly served as Acting Cabinet Secretary for Petroleum and Mining in 2022.

Before that, Juma was Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2018, as well as in the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government between 2014 and 2016. She earlier served in the Ministry of Defence between 2013 and 2014.

Her diplomatic career includes serving as Kenya’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and Djibouti and Permanent Representative to the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa between 2010 and 2013.

She holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford and both a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts in Government and Public Administration from the University of Nairobi.