Finally, Nairobi sends an envoy to Washington, DC

The Kenyan US embassy. Former Finance Minister Njeru Githae has been nominated to take over as the new Kenyan ambassador to the US. PHOTO | BMJ MURIITHI | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• Since the former Kenya’s envoy to the US, Mr Elkanah Odembo, was recalled in July last year, the Kenyan Mission has remained without a substantive ambassador.
• Ms Kamau made headlines in April after she boycotted a premium event in which Kenyan elite athletes were honored in Boston, MA. She skipped the event ostensibly because she had learnt that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga would be in attendance.

By B M J MURIITHI

After one year without a substantive representative from Kenya, Washington, DC will now have a new ambassador if Mr Robinson Njeru Githae gets the nod from the National Assembly.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday night announced the nomination of the former Finance Minister, who is expected to replace the current Charge d' Affaires, Ms Jean Kamau.

The announcement is likely to put to rest speculation that Mr Kenyatta was snubbing the United States.

Interestingly, it comes just a week after he attended the much publicized US-Africa leaders’ Summit during which he met US president Barack Obama at White House dinner in honour of the African heads of state and government.

MAJOR TRADING PARTNER

Since the former Kenya’s envoy to the US, Mr Elkanah Odembo, was recalled in July last year, the Kenyan Mission has remained without a substantive ambassador.

Early this year, a group of Kenyans based in the United States sent a petition to Mr Kenyatta asking him to post a new envoy in Washington.

“The US is a major trading partner and we would like the government to take the Mission more seriously than it is currently doing,” read part of the plea.

On Thursday night, a statement by the President's spokesman, Manoah Esipisu, said Mr Kenyatta had found it necessary to ‘realign the assignment of portfolio responsibilities of the Government’.

 A number of Principal Secretaries and ambassadors were shuffled. Ms  Kamau has been moved to Bangkok, Thailand as a full ambassador.

Ms Kamau made headlines in April after she boycotted a premium event in which Kenyan elite athletes were honored in Boston, MA. She skipped the event ostensibly because she had learnt that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga would be in attendance.

Kenyans took to the social media to condemn the action with some terming it as ‘disrespectful’ of a former senior government official.

Mr Odinga later told the Nation that he did not approve of “the treatment given to me by embassy officials during my sabbatical in the United States.”

PLAYED KEY ROLE

Ms Kamau will however be remembered for her role in the 2013 Kenya-US Diaspora conference which was billed as one of the most successful events hosted by the Kenyan embassy in the US.

Last month, Ms Kamau played a key role in ensuring Kenya’s participation at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in the US capital.

She also goes down as a fierce defender of her officers.  During her stint as the head of Mission, some Kenyans residing in the United States complained that the embassy officials were ‘inefficient, rude and unprofessional’ in dealing with the members of public. But in an interview with the Nation in May, Ms Kamau dismissed the allegations and said there was a channel to direct complaints on the embassy website.

She asked Kenyans to lodge formal complaints with the embassy “so that there is proper follow-up on any issues they may encounter.”

The appointment of Githae, a former Minister for Finance and  Member of Parliament for the Ndia Constituency is already generating varied reactions from the public . Kariuki Gitau of California said in a tweet soon after the announcement; “I thought political rejects were gonna give a chance to many jobless graduates”.

But an official at the Kenyan embassy in Washington who wished not to be named said by bringing in a former Finance Minister, President Kenyatta was sending a message that he takes the bilateral relations between Kenya and the US seriously.

“Mr Githae was in the Kibaki government at a time when major Vision 2030 economic decisions were made. There can’t be a better choice for Washington which has committed itself to work with Kenya on many fronts,” she told the Nation by phone.