Is history in making as ambassador Nancy Karigithu seeks to take the role of the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in a week. Should the voting nations elect her to the position, she would be the first female secretary-general and the first African to hold the position in IMO’s 75-years history.
Seven candidates will be battling it out in an election to occupy the coveted position, which is slated to take place on July 18, 2023, at the organization’s headquarters in London.
Seven IMO member states have each nominated a candidate for the top job after the term ends of the current office holder, Kitack Lim of South Korea, on December 31, 2023. The successful candidate will take over the IMO leadership mantle from 1st January 2024.
The IMO Council in its 128th session, in December 2022, approved the procedures for holding the election of the Secretary-General this year during the 2023 session of the Council (C 129).
IMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, a global standard-setting authority for the safety, security, and environmental performance of international shipping.
Kenya has Ambassador Karigithu as its candidate, who has also been endorsed by the African Union (AU). The Center for Ocean Policy and Economics (COPE), in January this year also endorsed her for the IMO top job.
Seen as one of the most qualified candidates for the position on the list, Ms. Karigithu has been involved in numerous roles, projects, and research to improve the shipping industry.
Globally, she has served three terms as Chair of the IMO Technical Cooperation Committee. As the Principal Secretary and Special Envoy for Maritime and Blue Economy in Kenya’s State Department for Shipping and Maritime Affairs, she has been a senior delegate of the Kenyan government to IMO meetings for over eighteen years when she also served as Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) Director General and has been instrumental in the implementation of IMO programs both in Kenya and throughout the African region.
During a career that spans a period of 36 years in shipping and maritime-related issues, she has taken part in improving diversity in shipping.
For instance, she was involved in the setting up and launch of the Association of Women in the Maritime Sector in Eastern & Southern Africa (WOMESA) where she served for two terms as a chairperson and now sits on the governing council.
She guided Kenya’s successful bid to host the Maritime Technology Cooperation Center for Africa (MTTC-Africa), the IMO/EU project aimed at building capacity in the African continent to mitigate climate change and greenhouse gas emissions from ships.
She sits on the Governing Council of the World Maritime University, based, in Sweden, the Board of Governors for the IMO International Maritime Training Institute, and is also Vice President (Africa) for the International Maritime Satellite Organization.
A maritime lawyer by profession, she has worked with IMO as a consultant for many years and she helped the agency to successfully establish maritime administration agencies in Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa, Seychelles, Ethiopia, and Gambia after the organization knew her work at the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) legal department, where her successful career journey as a maritime expert took roots. She would later spearhead the creation of KMA and later serve it as the Director General for 9 years.
Apart from Ms. Karigithu, there are two other women on the list of candidates. Minna Kivimäki from Finland and Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry from Dominica.
Bangladesh has thrown its weight behind Mr. Moin Uddin Ahmed, who was elected Director-General of the International Maritime Satellite Organization (IMSO) in their 25th assembly session.
The other candidate in the race is Suat Hayri Aka, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Turkiye to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Panama has fronted Mr. Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco who is currently serving as the Director of the Marine Environment Division of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), having served previously as Director, Administrative Division, and Chief of Staff.
China has nominated Zhang Xiaojie, Director of the Technical Cooperation Division at IMO.
This article was published by an editorial consultant and can be reached via githua.kihara@gmail.com
