MPs approve appointment of four new envoys

The National Assembly has approved the appointment of four persons to various diplomatic offices.

Yesterday the House approved the appointment of Dr Andrew Karanja as the new Ambassador to Brazil, Ababu Namwamba as the Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/UN office Nairobi and Noor Yarow Gabow as the Consul-General, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

While moving a special motion on the Consideration of Nominees for Appointment to various Diplomatic Offices, Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee chair Nelson Koech (Belgut) urged the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs alongside Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service to enhance the rigor of their due diligence processes.

He said that the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs should also ensure that the nominees are consulted, concur and are ready to serve the country to avoid incidents of nominees turning down the nominations.

Committee recommendations

“Having conducted the approval hearings pursuant to Article 132 (2) (e) of the Constitution and the Sections 3 and 8 of the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) act, the committee recommends that the house approves the three nominees,” said Koech.

National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohammed (Suna East) reminded the appointing authority to ensure that the envoy appointments are merit-based, arguing that diplomatic positions are critical and should not be distributed carelessly.

“This is a job that requires special skills. What is a skill that you couldn’t run a ministry and that now you have acquired in the last two weeks so that you can go deal with it in the Embassy? This process must be taken seriously,” said Junet.

He at the same time described the appointments, particularly of those who previously served in the Cabinet, as a “second chance” to demonstrate their capabilities in the new roles.

“Some of the members I see there let us give them a second chance because the first chance failed and then we see how they will perform,” said Junet.

Kilgoris MP Julius Sunkuli while supporting the motion said that in Western countries a person is appointed to serve as an ambassador must learn the language used in the country of appointment.

“I find one thing that is being omitted all the time that ambassadors are vetted or appointed. It does not happen in Western countries, that you are appointed to a Portuguese-speaking country and you can’t speak Portuguese, you are appointed to a French-speaking country and you can’t speak French,” said Sunkuli.