As
newly appointed ambassadors await the verdict on parliament as to whether they
will proceed to their stations, it is emerging that the Westgate Mall attack by
Al Shaabab terrorists caused the cancelling of the choice of Uhuru Kenyatta to
Kenya’s embassy in Turkey.
According
to sources at the ministry of Foreign Affairs, Uhuru had picked his cousin
Catherine Mwangi to go to the new Kenya embassy in Ankara but as fate would
have it, her son was killed in the Westgate raid. Because of trauma, it is
said, she requested that she be posted near home and that is how she ended up
in Cairo, Egypt, which is a hop from Nairobi.
Incidentally,
that the post was earmarked for Uhuru’s cousin is being pointed out as meaning
that Turkey is a key posting. The embassy was opened in 2012 but it has not had
a substantial ambassador.
Kiema
Kilonzo will be the lucky first occupant of the office. That Turkey is a key
partner is illustrated by the fact that in 2009, the then President Abdul Gal
visited Kenya on invitation of Mwai Kibaki. In 2012, then vice president
Kalonzo Musyoka visited Turkey and in 2013 then Prime Minister Raila Odinga
visited the country too.
Indeed,
it is said that Raila had appointed a kinsman as ambassador to Turkey but the
then powerful Nyeri mafia torpedoed it. The sixteenth largest economy in the
world and the number six exporter of steel worldwide, Turkey is also
strategically positioned as it straddles two continents-Asia and Europe. Once
referred to as the sick man of Europe, Turkey is now competing with China in
textile products and has now almost overtaken Dubai as Kenyan traders’
favourite spot for cloths imports. It is also a leader in construction and
renewable energy industry which makes it a vital partner for Kenya.
A
Nato member, Turkey is battling the Chinese head start in the region hence its
keenness to have strong business ties with Kenya. On balance, however, the
trade ties favour Turkey as it exports goods worth Sh1.3 billion while Kenya exports
only Sh100 million worth of goods. It is against this background that Kiema has
his work cut out for him. Lucky for him is that Kenyan tea and coffee are in
top demand worldwide and a Muslim country like Turkey is just the right place
to market it.
But
by far, the most coveted post is that of Kenya’s ambassador to US that went to
Njeru Githae who will be stationed in Washington. To say that whomever the
president picks for America must be a real confidant is to belabour the point.
Although there have been those who say that the appointees are politicians, it
is worth noting that the practice is the same all over and cite the US
secretary of state John Kerry who is the chief ambassador of America and who at
one time contested the US presidency. Hillary Clinton who came before Kerry
also contested the presidency and was once governor of New York.
By
picking Ali Mwakwere as his man in Tanzania, Sam Ongeri at UN-Habitat, Kiema as
his man in Turkey and Githae as his man in Washington, Uhuru is following that
well-trodden path of rewarding loyalists who stood with him in the elections.
This has not gone down well in certain
quarters especially amongst politicians the new ambassadors lost to in the
elections. In Kitui county for instance, Governor Julius Malombe who trounced
Kiema and his senate counterpart David Musila reportedly went back to the
drawing tables afraid that by flying a flag, Kiema has now overshadowed them
and this might cause them problems in 2017.
In
Kirinyaga, the man who floored Githae, Governor Joseph Ndathi has also
reportedly become suddenly gloomy. After appointment, the politicians have
reportedly been attending a short course on diplomacy. For Ongeri and Mwakwere
it is like throwing fish in water as they have been diplomats before. As for
Kiema, his masters degree in peace studies and conflict resolution will come in
handy. He also served in the parliamentary
foreign affairs committee in the last parliament.
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