Kenya’s diplomatic chessboard: Ruto’s Foreign Ministry shake-up tests strategy over stability
Kiptiness, who also oversaw relations with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, will now return to Nairobi as Deputy Director General of the Asia and Pacific Directorate.
Kenya’s diplomatic chessboard: Ruto’s Foreign Ministry shake-up tests strategy over stability
Kenya has undertaken a sweeping shake-up at the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, reassigning senior diplomats in a move insiders say reflects both a bid to tighten foreign policy coordination and a worrying pattern of rapid reshuffles that risk undermining institutional stability.
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Among the most notable changes is the recall of Lindsay Kiptiness Kimwole, Kenya's ambassador to Thailand.
Kiptiness, who also oversaw relations with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, will now return to Nairobi as Deputy Director General of the Asia and Pacific Directorate. He replaces Jane Makori, who will now deputise him.
Kiptiness, a former high school teacher turned career diplomat with over 15 years in the foreign service, is widely regarded as an authority on Southeast Asia.
Since his posting in 2021, he has navigated one of Kenya's most complex consular challenges: rescuing Kenyans trafficked into cyber-scam factories in junta-ruled Myanmar, many of whom transit through his base in Thailand.
In March this year, Kiptiness disclosed that over 150 Kenyans—mainly from the North Rift, Western Kenya, Nyanza, Nakuru, Nyandarua, Murang'a, Mombasa, and Nairobi—had been rescued over the past three years.
"We are still working to bring back more," he said at the time, underscoring how his mission had morphed from traditional diplomacy into high-stakes humanitarian coordination.
Lindsay Kiptiness Kimwole has been recalled as Kenya's ambassador to Thailand. (Photo: Asian Institute of Technology)
Another major redeployment sees Daniel Wambura, the outgoing ambassador to Burundi, appointed Deputy Director General of the Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Directorate.
He succeeds Rose Makena Muchiri, who has now been reassigned to head the Registry of Treaties—a department created in 2017 to manage Kenya's growing portfolio of international agreements.
Makena's transfer is her third in just over a year. She has moved from leading the Europe and Commonwealth Directorate to overseeing diplomatic privileges, and now to treaties—an example, insiders say, of the foreign ministry's "rotational instability," where officials are shuffled too frequently to master their roles.
The reshuffle also affects Josephat Maikara, one of Nairobi's most senior foreign policy bureaucrats. Maikara has been reassigned to serve as Director General (DG) for Political and Diplomatic Affairs—effectively the ministry's third-ranking official after the minister and the two principal secretaries—deputised by Lucy Kiruthu, head of policy, research, and strategic analysis.
His return to the DG role ends a brief stint as Chief of Protocol, a position he held for just four months, and caps a year in which he has been shifted across three senior posts.
In addition to these high-level changes, several directorates have been reorganised:
• Michael Mwiti will lead the UN and International Organisations division.
• Tobias Owino has been named head of Climate Change and Environment.
• Eva Mwanika will oversee the Candidatures Division, a critical post as Kenya grapples with repeated losses in international and continental elections.
• Abdishakur Sheikh Noor will head the East African Community and Great Lakes division, deputised by Peter Mwanzala.
• Arthur Ahuya Olanda will lead the Peace and Security Division.
• Judy Muthoni has been appointed to lead the Europe and Commonwealth Directorate.
• Stella Munyi will head the Americas and Caribbean division.
• Joseph Masila will lead the Middle East Directorate.
• Diana Kiambuthi, previously head of Europe and Commonwealth, has been reassigned to the Cultural Diplomacy Directorate.
Meanwhile, Henry Wambuna has been named acting Chief of Protocol—returning to a role he previously held—deputised by Samson Kemboi.
Protocol has been a sore spot for the Ruto administration, marred by embarrassing gaffes, including the infamous upside-down hoisting of Kenya's flag during an international event.
Patrick Wamoto will take over as acting head of the Foreign Service Academy, which is meant to train diplomats capable of matching their global counterparts.
For many in Nairobi's diplomatic circles, the rapid redeployments signal both ambition and disorder.
"These frequent rotations deny senior officials the time to properly grasp their dockets," one insider remarked, warning that it could erode Kenya's ability to sustain a coherent foreign policy.
Yet for President Ruto's administration, the shake-up is part of a broader effort to reset the ministry's machinery at a time when Kenya is recalibrating its global footprint—from Africa and Asia to climate diplomacy and multilateral platforms.
Whether the changes yield sharper execution or deepen bureaucratic fatigue will depend on whether this new team is allowed to settle—and stay put.
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