President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday appointed former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka as Kenya's Special Envoy to South Sudan.
"This appointment is in furtherance of Kenya's commitment towards shared prosperity in the region, in general, and to the pursuit of lasting peace and security in South Sudan through the acceleration of the implementation of the Revitalised Agreement on Conflict Resolution in South Sudan (R-AGROSS) in particular," read the statement seen by Kenyans.co.ke.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs congratulates Hon. Dr. Kalonzo Musyoka on his appointment and stands ready to support the Special Envoy in the delivery of his mandate," affirmed the ministry.
This appointment follows revelations about the reason Kalonzo had failed to take up his previous appointment.
Kalonzo had initially been picked by the president to head the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) in South Sudan, days after the burial of his father on November 9, 2018.
However, Kalonzo’s name was rejected by the then Sudan President Omar El Bashir, who was recently toppled in a military coup, on grounds that Bashir was not adequately consulted.
According to KTN News, sources within the diplomatic circle revealed that Bashir was vouching for former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe to take up the job.
Prior to the rejection, images had surfaced 24 hours after Kalonzo’s father’s burial, showing the Wiper Party Leader meeting South Sudan President Salva Kiir, in the company of Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma.
“When I was seen visiting President Salva Kiir, the media concluded that I already had the job. What they didn’t know was that this is a negotiating thing, you have to lobby countries of IGAD (The Intergovernmental Authority on Development). It is not a Kenyan job,” Kalonzo revealed in an interview with KTN News.
Protocol dictated that the name of the person to take up the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission job would have had to be communicated to the African Union by the IGAD Chairperson who is Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, a fierce critic of Desalegn.
