President Dr. William Ruto has for the second time endorsed the candidature of Ambassador Nancy Karigithu for the position of the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Ruto described Karigithu as a highly competent and qualified expert who has immensely contributed to global maritime issues. He also said that she has built consensus on many global complex issues and has all it takes to handle issues affecting shipping in the world.
“Our IMO campaign has got a major boost with the recent re-endorsement by His Excellency Dr. Ruto, the President of the Republic of Kenya. Indeed, a win for Kenya and Africa will be a win for the global maritime sector, more so at a time when the industry is at the cusp of a major transition to green fuels for shipping,” Karigithu said.
Kenya also secured the endorsement of the African Union (AU) for the nomination of Ambassador Karigithu during a High-Level Mid-Year Coordination Meeting in Lusaka in Zambia, in Mid-July 2022.
The endorsement placed Kenya’s leading maritime expert in a strong position by situating her not just as a national, but also as an Africa Flag bearer in the race for a critical global post.
The nominations that were submitted by the deadline set for receipt of nominations were Mr. Moin Uddin Ahmed (Bangladesh), Mr. Suat Hayri Aka (Turkey), Mr. Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco (Panama), Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry (Dominica), Mrs. Karigithu (Kenya), Ms. Minna Kivimäki (Finland) and Mr. Zhang Xiaojie (China), according to a statement by IMO.
The IMO is the United Nations’ specialized agency responsible for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine and atmospheric pollution by ships. IMO’s work supports the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Amb. Karigithu currently serves as Kenya’s Special Envoy for the Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, and she advises the office of the president on the Blue Economy. The election to the position of SG will be held on July 18, 2023.
The 40 members of the IMO council will pick the successor of Mr. Kitack Lim, a South Korean. If elected, the Kenyan Maritime diplomat will be the first African and the first woman to hold the position. But who is this woman whose star has shined in a men-dominated industry in Kenya?
Her elevation to serve as a Director General of the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA), which regulates the industry, where her main job was to look into the safety of vessels and promote maritime safety, security, and commerce had a profound effect on her immense contribution to an industry that was not popular to even policymakers.
Following the 9/11 terror attack in the US where planes were used as bombs to bring down the World Trade Centre twin towers in the United States, the government of Kenya created the authority to enhance port security. It was feared that the ports were likely to suffer similar fates due to the global nature of the shipping industry.
The authority was charged with the responsibility of regulating the maritime industry and leading in the implementation of relevant international agreements Kenya has ratified.
But her love affair with the sea started during her first journey to the Coastal town of Mombasa to join Matuga Girls in Kwale, about forty Kilometres away for high school education, she told this writer in a story published by Sunday Nation, a Kenyan leading newspaper over a decade ago.
Her dream with Seas came in 1989 when Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) hired her as a legal officer.
However, the years that followed, she says, saw the lowest point of her career.
“I had yearned to work at the authority but then I got disappointed. The legal department never used to win cases because, by the time the matter was referred to us, it had already become complex with witnesses not willing to testify,” said Mrs. Karigithu.
In 1993, she enrolled at the International Maritime Law Institute at the University of Malta to pursue a master’s degree in maritime law for nine months on an IMO scholarship, leaving behind her young family.
“One of the most serious challenges I faced was leaving my family behind and I had to make a choice. People told me that I would lose my family to other women, but I did not listen to those voices and, after a serious talk with my husband, he understood and allowed me to leave. I have never regretted my decision since the experiences strengthened our relationship,” she told the Sunday Nation.
She resigned from KPA since the exposure in Malta had changed her perception of the industry and opened her eyes to more opportunities. She went to private legal practice. Being among few lawyers specializing in Maritime, IMO easily spotted her in 1997 with a need to help in establishing a maritime administration in Kenya.
The organization had successfully established similar administrations in Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa, Seychelles, Ethiopia, and Gambia. IMO had known her since her days at KPA.
Following the terror attack in the US, IMO drafted a regulation that required all the member countries to form authorities to regulate the maritime industry before June 1, 2004. KMA was born out of a presidential order in May 2004.
One-and-a-half years later, Mrs. Karigithu was recruited as its first Director General, making her the most senior woman official in the industry dominated by men. She would serve 3 years terms for nine years, during which Kenya recorded remarkable progress in Maritime Education and Training, security and expansion of commercial shipping with more local participation.
Under her watch and after a struggle with the Kenyan parliament, which took time to understand the complex nature of shipping, KMA crafted the Merchant Shipping Act 2009, which gives the authority the power to regulate the maritime sector and its service providers.
Mrs. Karigithu also helped Kenya’s entry into the IMO’s Whitelist, a coveted title that helps a country to train seafarers who can work in foreign-going vessels.
She has also worked in the Association of Women Managers East and South Africa (WOMESA) which seeks to promote women’s interests in the industry.
She was appointed in December 2015 as the first Principal Secretary for the newly created State Department for Shipping and Maritime Affairs (SD&MA), in the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure & Urban Development, with the overall mandate of promoting the national maritime and shipping industry, human resource development, ship registration as well as developing a data center and admiralty jurisdiction.
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.
The project is aimed at the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through improved energy efficiency and increased uptake of low-carbon technologies to mitigate the effects of climate change in Africa from the emission of harmful gases from ships.
She has represented and severally led Kenya’s delegation to various international maritime forums including the IMO, where her leadership in these meetings resulted in her personal recognition and election as the Vice Chairperson of the IMO’s Technical Cooperation Committee from 2009 to May 2015.
Currently, she sits on the Governing Council of the World Maritime University, based, in Sweden, on the Board of Governors for the IMO International Maritime Training Institute, Malta, and is also Vice President (Africa) for the International Maritime Satellite Organization.
Endorsing her for the first time, Dr. Ruto said: “The nomination endorses the fact that climate change adaptation and the health of oceans remain key pillars of Kenya’s foreign policy. The bid also demonstrates Kenya’s increasingly active participation in multilateral diplomacy, which boosts Kenya’s credentials as a leader in the promotion of the blue economy sustainable development,” the State House post read in part.
“Amb. Karigithu is a world-renowned maritime expert who has been an active leader and a consequential voice in promoting the objective of the IMO dedicated to safety, security, and environmental protection in the maritime industry,” the President said.
This article was published by an editorial consultant and can be reached via githua.kihara@gmail.com
