Former Cabinet Secretary for Lands and Physical Planning Farida Karoney has revealed that she learned about her appointment to the Cabinet via a television announcement while on duty for a local media house in Mombasa in 2018.

Speaking on Engage Talk on Thursday, October 9, 2025, while sharing her journey in media management and challenges of mentoring young managers in different career fields, the former Cabinet Secretary said she never anticipated her slot in former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Cabinet until the news popped up on TV.

Farida Karoney was nominated by former President Uhuru Kenyatta as Cabinet Secretary for Lands on January 26, 2018, a position that caught her by surprise.

”In 2018, when we went to Mombasa to do a strategy for the next five years for RMS. At the lobby, waiting for other team members to arrive for the evening briefing. So while watching TV, the second term of President Kenyatta was forming, and I knew most of the political leaders had been appointed to government, so I was permanently on the phone to the newsroom…Like, do you know this person? This is what they have done..I was building content for that broadcast because it was live,” Karoney said.

Calling Uhuru

Karoney, who made a comeback to the media world, joining Cape Media Limited as the Growth Strategy Consultant in July 2025, said that she confirmed her appointment after calling former President Uhuru Kenyatta, who jokingly broke the news to her.

”As soon as I sat down, I saw Farida Karoney. I was like NO!…that cannot be me….how can it be me?.. But in Kenya, I am the only Farida Karoney, so it is most likely me. So I picked up the phone and called former President Kenyatta, and he started laughing. I asked him boldly, ‘Why are you laughing?’. He answered, ‘Kwani hutaki hiyo kazi?’ I said I wanted, but he should have prepared me,” Karoney added.

The former CS further said retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration wanted her to digitalise land records for Kenyans, if she cut through vetting in the Parliament, an achievement and legacy she left behind, which the Ministry of Lands operates with.