A number of Kenyans who previously served in government transitioned into diplomacy, and are serving in various Embassies and High Commissions around the world.
Notable among them are former Cabinet Ministers under former president Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta with the latter assigning them diplomatic slots over the last decade.
Kenyans.co.ke looks at some of these individuals, including the positions they held in government, before their careers took another tangent.
Robinson Njeru Githae
The former Ndia Member of Parliament, elected in 2002 is commonly referred to as simply as Njeru Githae.
President Mwai Kibaki added a feather to his cap by appointing him as assistant minister, in the ministries of justice, transport and local government.
He was then handed a full cabinet slot serving in the Nairobi Metropolitan and the plum finance ministry.
Upon assuming power in 2013, President Uhuru Kenyatta named him as Kenya’s US ambassador in 2014. He was later moved in 2019 Austria where he is currently serving.
Bitange Ndemo
The current Kenya's Ambassador to Belgium is best remembered for his time as the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication under former President Mwai Kibaki.
He was however rarely engaged during the Jubilee Administration and maintained a low profile while working as a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi School Of Business. He describes himself as a global technocrat.
Judi Wakhungu
The former cabinet secretary for environment and regional development authorities is the current Kenya Ambassador for France.
She served as a minister under President Uhuru Kenyatta’s first term in office between 2013 and 2017 but failed to make a return, securing a diplomatic posting together with her former colleague Prof Jacob Kaimenyi who was posted to Belgium.
She is a woman of several firsts having been the first woman to be hired as a geologist at the Ministry of Energy and Regional Development and also the first female petroleum geologist to serve in the National Oil Corporation of Kenya.
She was also the first woman faculty member at the Department of Geology at the University of Nairobi.
Consolata Nkatha Maina
Simply known as Connie Maina, she shot into the limelight when she served as a commissioner at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ahead of the 2017 elections.
On April 2018, she, alongside fellow commissioners Margaret Mwachanya and Dr Paul Kibiwott Kurgat announced that they had resigned before rescinding their decision later for what they termed as lack of faith in the chairman Wafula Chebukati.
She was then named the Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Republic of Kenya Rome, Italy where she is currently serving.
Manoah Esipisu
This is the former State House Spokesperson and Head of the Presidential Strategic Communication Unit.
He is currently Kenya’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom having been appointed two years ago.
This was his second stint in London after previously serving as a diplomat at the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2006 as a spokesperson.
Dr Cleopa Mailu
He also shot into the limelight proper after his appointment as a Cabinet Secretary by the then newly elected President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013.
Before his appointment, Mailu had hit a milestone in his career in 2003 being appointed the first African CEO of the Nairobi Hospital. He has also worked for UNICEF and the World Health Organization.
In August 2018, Mailu, just like his colleague Judy Wakhungu and Prof. Kaimenyi did not make it back to cabinet but was appointed the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) as the new Permanent Representative of Kenya to the UNOG.
In April 2021, he was appointed to head the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Regional Trade Agreements.
