President William Ruto Tuesday named Lazarus Amayo, Kenya’s outgoing ambassador to the US and a career diplomat, as the Special Envoy for the African Union Champion for Institutional Reforms.
Amayo will play a critical role in driving AU’s institutional reforms in liaison with the State Department for Foreign Affairs and the AU institutions.
According to Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei, the fresh appointments are set to augment Kenya and Ruto’s regional as well as continental outreach.
Ruto assumed the role of championing the elusive AU reforms in February, succeeding President Kagame of Rwanda.
“The Special Envoy is expected to play a critical role in driving AU’s institutional reforms in liaison with the State Department for Foreign Affairs and the African Union institutions,” he stated.
Amayo is the outgoing Ambassador of Kenya to the United States based in Washington DC, and has previously held several senior public positions, among them; Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the United Nations (2018-2020), High Commissioner of Kenya to the United Kingdom (2014-2018), the Permanent Representative of Kenya to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Commonwealth Organization.
He also previously served as the Director for Europe and Commonwealth Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (2010-2014), High Commissioner of Kenya to Zambia and Malawi and Permanent Representative to COMESA (2006-2010), Kenya’s High Commissioner to India with concurrent accreditation to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Singapore (1999-2004).
Ruto also re-established the office of the deputy Comptroller of the State House.
The President has appointed Simon Mwangi Kamau Gikuru to the role.
The move is with the approval of the Public Service Commission.
Gikuru is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with over a decade of experience in law, management, strategic planning, policy formulation, financial administration, consultancy, logistics, and conflict resolution.
He is the immediate former Secretary General of the Amani National Congress Party.
He has previously worked as a Managing Associate at Chege Kamau & Company Advocates and as the Group Managing Director of Amoo Holdings International Limited, a regional logistics firm that had operations in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and DRC.
