Ruto nominates new ambassadors in major diplomatic reshuffle

President William Ruto has carried out a broad shake-up of Kenya's foreign service, nominating new ambassadors and redeploying senior envoys in a move billed as aligning the diplomatic corps with his administration's Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.

The changes blend career appointments with political selections, reshaping key postings in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Gulf.

Lucy Kiruthu, until now Deputy Director General at the Foreign Office responsible for research and policy analysis, will head to Bangkok, replacing Lindsay Kiptiness Kimwole, who returns to Nairobi to lead the Asia–Pacific division.

Vienna's new permanent representative will be career diplomat Edwin Afande, while former Labour Cabinet Secretary Florence Bore takes up the role of ambassador to Namibia.

In a significant continental shift, George Orina, ambassador to Ethiopia and permanent representative to the African Union, is being reassigned to Dublin, with his Addis Ababa role filled by Galma Boru—Kenya's inaugural envoy to Jakarta.

Jakarta will now be led by political appointee Abdirashid Salat Abdille, while Henry Wambuma, acting chief of protocol, moves to Bujumbura.

Ankara gets a new envoy in Anthony Mwaniki Muchiri, who previously served as the Public Service Commission boss, replacing Uhuru-era appointee Leonard Boiyo.

London's Catherine Karemu has been moved to Dar es Salaam, with her post in the UK going to Maurice Odhiambo Makoloo, who is serving as Kenya's ambassador in Vienna.

Joseph Masila, until recently director for economic and commercial affairs at the Foreign Office, will head to Riyadh, replacing Mohamed Ramadhan Ruwange, who is shifted to Arusha as consul general.

Ruwange has been demoted from his post in Saudi Arabia.

Vienna's new permanent representative will be career diplomat Edwin Afande, while former cabinet minister Florence Bore takes up the role of ambassador to Namibia.

The reassignments, which also touch consular and deputy head of mission posts from Arusha to Ottawa, suggest a careful balancing of political patronage, professional rotation, and strategic emphasis.

Also among the notable changes is the redeployment of Mohamed Ramadhan Ruwange from Saudi Arabia to the Consul General in Arusha.

The move comes only weeks after Ruwange helped secure the release of Stephen Abdukareem Munyakho, a Kenyan national who had been facing execution in the Gulf kingdom—a case that drew public attention and cross-border advocacy.

Ruwange's post in Riyadh will be filled by Joseph Masila, a career diplomat from the Foreign Ministry.

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The changes also touch Kenya's consular hubs: Jayne Jepkorir, a political appointee, becomes consul general in Dubai, replacing David Iboko Lokemer, a former intelligence officer who served just over a year; Judy Kiaria Nkumiri, also a political appointee, is named consul general in Goma, DRC.

Deputy head of mission postings see further churn.

Mohamed Amin Sheikh Nuh takes the role in Berlin, while Kipkosgei Toroitich—reshuffled from Seoul to Berlin in under a year—is now bound for Kampala.

Moni Manyange moves from Ottawa to Kinshasa, though relations there remain strained: President Félix Tshisekedi's government has yet to accredit Kenya's envoy.

Other shifts include Geoffrey Kaituko, a former principal secretary, becoming deputy head of mission in Ottawa; Suleiman Ibrahim Roba moving from Kampala to Riyadh as deputy; and political appointee David Mwangi Karanja heading to Seoul in the same capacity.

The pattern—rapid reassignments, the replacement of seasoned envoys with political loyalists, and reshuffles in diplomatically sensitive postings—suggests a foreign service in flux, where political calculation is as evident as policy strategy.