DR AMINA MOHAMMED TRACK RECORD QUESTIONABLE

Last week there was news that a Kenyan-Zakayo Muriuki,an information technology consultant who had been jailed in Ethiopia had died from meningitis. Zakayo and his colleague Hedrick Mugo were arrested in Ethiopia and charged with installing communication equipment without a license.

Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed by Dr.Amina Mohamed has stated that they had made efforts to see the detained Kenyans released, the families of the mentioned victims did not agree with Dr. Amina's words.

According to them, their pleas to the ministry of foreign affairs had done little to secure the release of their relatives. In fact, some of them said that Ambassador Amina Mohammed whom they had met had advised them to keep away from the media as it was going to jeopardize the negotiations. This was not of much help as there was no information forthcoming from the ministry months after their meeting.

There is no doubt Dr. Amina has served in many prestigious dockets for close to thirty years. Whatever her achievements were, she needs to up her game in her current position. I have not been able to point out any of her achievements in any of the pillars that are found within her ministry over the last four years leave alone all the years she has served in public offices. For instant, in the peace and diplomacy pillar, we have seen the president withdraw the Kenyan peacekeepers from South Sudan without proper consultation citing the sacking of one of the commanders for alleged incompetency.
That was ill advised as Kenya’s successive governments have played a major role in the restoration of peace in the area. Above all, this is a time when Southern Sudanese people need us more.

It is also during her era that we have seen heightened campaign to withdraw from the International Criminal Court which we entered a few years ago just because the president and his deputy had been charged in the court.
The President went round so many countries using the tax payers money to win as many countries as possible to support the government demands to withdraw from the Rome Statute.

On the economic diplomacy policy, Kenya has lost most of the gains that the previous government had achieved. Uganda and Rwanda have withdrawn from the earlier plan to build a standard gauge railway from Mombasa to Uganda then Rwanda and Burundi. Kenya has lost economically as this would have increased business at the port of Mombasa and in towns along the railway.


The LAPSSET project is envisaged to connect the port of Lamu to Southern Sudan and Ethiopia. This would include a railway line and a road to the destinations. Southern Sudan has since said that it is not interested in the project and we are now banking on Ethiopia. Remember that the distance to the Indian Ocean to Addis Ababa through Djibouti is shorter than through Lamu and Ethiopia which is already a functional standard gauge railway through Djibouti. This leaves Kenya vulnerable in partnerships for the project.

The holding of the TICAD meeting in Kenya the first to be held in Africa can easily be termed as Dr. Amina’s greatest achievement in the four years but can this be significant enough to market her for the position of the African Union chair? What is her vision for the African Union? The president and all other people campaigning for her seldom her achievements except for the fact that she has a vast experience in international relations. The experience alone is not enough to prove that she will be capable to hold this coveted position.Charity begins at home.