President William Ruto has appointed former Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter as his advisor of Great Lakes Region Affairs.
Great Lakes region includes include Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zambia, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Keter served in the previous government before running for the Kericho County governor position, which he lost at nominations.
In his role as an advisor on the affairs of the region, the former CS who was also the first Senator of Kericho County, will be expected to advise the president on policies and approaches to the region.
Some of the countries in the region have been embroiled in civil wars and instability, especially DRC and Burundi.
"With humility, I wish to express my gratitude to President William Ruto for appointing me as his Advisor on Great Lakes Region Affairs. I am deeply honoured and grateful for the trust and confidence that he has placed in me by appointing me to this role," he said shortly after his appointment.
Keter, considered to be a close ally of the president, opted not to vie as an independent candidate after losing UDA nominations in a hotly contested political duel.
He will join other advisors in helping Ruto with economic, foreign affairs, and trade, a departure from the previous regime which had limited advisors with most functions on Cabinet Secretaries shoulders.
Keter's political career began in the 2002 elections when he won the Belgut parliamentary seat. In 2007, he was elected for the second term under the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party.
While representing the Belgut people in the National Assembly, the politician also served as the assistant Minister for Energy from 2008 to 2013.
In 2013, he ran for the Kericho senatorial seat under the Jubilee Coalition led by former President Uhuru Kenyatta and won to become the first senator in the county.
He held the position until he was named the Energy CS under the Kenyatta administration in 2015. Keter was later transferred to the Devolution ministry in a reshuffle.
Keter resigned from Cabinet in 2022 to vie for the Kericho gubernatorial seat in the August 2022 elections.
He, however, lost in the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) nominations to Eric Mutai, who is the current governor.
