Amolo recalled again in new
ministry shake-up
By Patrick L. Thimangu in St. Louis and Symon Ogeto in Chicago
Filed at 5:30p.m. CT

Thomas B. Amolo, Head of Chancery and Principal Counsellor at the Kenyan Embassy in Washington/ML File Photo

July 12 -- Thomas Amolo, the second-highest ranked diplomat at the Kenyan embassy in Washington, has again been recalled to Nairobi as part of a reshuffle of 92 Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff, but it's not clear if he will leave.

The order for Amolo's transfer and names of other civil servants affected by the shakeup are detailed in a confidential letter dated June 26 and signed by Peter Ole Nkuraiyia, the former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mashariki Leo obtained the communique from high-ranking ministry sources overseas.

In the letter Nkuraiyia ordered the diplomatic officers who are being recalled to Nairobi and others being transferred from Kenya missions abroad to report to their posting on Sept. 1.

"Appeals will not be entertained .... The officers posted to missions abroad will serve for a term of fourty (48) months," Nkuraiya wrote. "They will return to headquarters in 2008 except those who will reach retirement age before the stated period."

Other Kenyan diplomats who have been recalled to Nairobi include P.W. Muhindi, principal counsellor in Paris, and B.H.O. Oguto, principal counsellor at The Hague. F.J.I. Karugu will replace Muhindi and A.B. Nyikuli will fill Ogutu’s position. These replacements both are being moved from headquarters.

Nkuraiyia was transferred to the Ministry of East African and Regional Cooperation, as part of part of a major cabinet rejigging that President Mwai Kibaki made June 29. In the reshuffle the president also moved Kalonzo Musyoka, the minister for foreign affairs, to a similar position in the lower profile Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

According to the source who is familiar with workings of the diplomatic corps, Nkuraiyia was expected to reorganize the foreign affairs ministry, but he did not anticipate that Kibaki would move him out of the ministry so soon and transfer his ally, Kalonzo, to another docket. The foreign ministry transfers detailed in the June 26 letter could very possibly be Nkuraiyia's last-ditch effort to reward his and Musyoka's loyalists, said the source, who asked not to be identified for fear of recrimination.

Whether Ambassador Esther Tole, the new permanent secretary at the foreign affairs ministry, will follow through with the Nkuraiyia transfers also remains to be seen. She is likely to study the transfers and see whether they make sense -- particularly if Kenyan foreign missions complain of understaffing or argue that they've been sent the wrong personnel, the source said.

Amolo, a ministry veteran, has been stationed in the U.S. for more than a decade had been recalled to Nairobi earlier this year, but sought an extension. That recall came after the Kenyan government brought Kirimi Kaberia, a former assistant director in charge of the Africa democracy program at the Les Aspin Center in Washington, to replace him. But Kaberia was abruptly recalled to Nairobi in May, and the foreign ministry has never disclosed why it took that action.

Kirimi is not one of the civil servants listed in the Nkuraiyia memo. If Amolo leaves Washington, James Wakiaga, who is currently serving as second counselor at the mission, will likely replace him.

Amolo in Washington said he was not aware of the new recall.

Leonard Ngaithe, the new Kenyan ambassador, who is scheduled to formally present President George W. Bush with his credentials this week, did not return calls seeking comment for this article.

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