The many hats of Monica Juma, new ‘iron lady’ pushing Uhuru’s agenda

Dr Monica Juma during a past press conference. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The mother of two is married to Prof Kagwanja and has many credentials
  • Perhaps the darkest moments in her stint as a Interior Principal Secretary was the recent terrorist attack where 148 people were killed at Garissa University College by Al-Shabaab terror group.

Not many Kenyans may pick her out from a crowd. But beneath Dr Monica Kathina Juma’s down-to-earth demeanour is a woman with lofty credentials which have seen her rise to the top tier of research as well as in government bureaucracy.

In the two years that the Jubilee administration has been in power, Dr Juma has held three senior positions.

Her meteoric rise started first as the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Defence before she swapped places with suspended PS Mutea Iringo at the Ministry of Interior.

Then last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated her the Secretary to the Cabinet in charge of the Cabinet office after the dismissal of Mr Francis Kimemia, who had held that position since the Jubilee coalition came to power.

Once Parliament approves her nomination, Dr Juma — described by many of her close associates as “an institutional building person keen on creating systems” — will take over the arduous task of driving the government’s agenda as a whole. She could not give a comment to Sunday Nation, asking that we wait until Parliament approves her nomination.

But the “intellectual bureaucrat” is not new to government. Before President Kenyatta appointed her the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Defence in 2013, Dr Juma was Kenya’s ambassador to Ethiopia and also oversaw Kenya’s interests in Djibouti.

She was also the Permanent Representative to the African Union, Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

As the country’s Permanent Representative to the AU, the pragmatic diplomat was at the forefront of the shuttle diplomacy to save the initial Ocampo Six from the crimes against humanity charges that they faced at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

While former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka was seen as the face of the shuttle diplomacy, behind the scenes Dr Juma was the real force lobbying other African governments to have the Kenyan ICC cases referred to the country’s courts or deferred.

OCAMPO SIX

Former ICC prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo’s initial list had six prominent Kenyans accused of being the perpetrators of the 2007/08 post-election violence.

They were (current President and Deputy President) Kenyatta and William Ruto, respectively, former Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura, former Commissioner of Police Hussein Ali, then Industrialisation minister Henry Kosgey and radio journalist Joshua Sang.

Four individuals have had their cases terminated, but Mr Ruto and Mr Sang are still fighting the charges in The Hague.

However, Dr Juma’s résumé is not just full of her tough bureaucratic credentials in government. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Oxford and a Certificate in Refugees Studies from the same university, among other academic testimonials.

She is also a senior research fellow at the Department of Political Science, University of Pretoria (South Africa); an Associate with the African Programme of the United Nations-affiliated University for Peace, (Costa Rica); and an adjunct faculty member at the African Centre for Strategic Studies of the National Defence University, Washington DC, (USA).

The mother of two who is married to Prof Peter Kagwanja has many publications to her name — among them a presentation at the African Leadership Centre titled Structural Dilemmas in the Nexus Between Security and Justice.

As a researcher, she has served as an expert with many governments and inter-governmental organisations, including the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on resourcing for the Security Council’s-mandated AU peace keeping operations (2008).

SENIOR POSITIONS
Previously, she was also the executive director of the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA), Pretoria; executive director of the Africa Policy Institute (API); senior policy analyst at the SaferAfrica, Pretoria; a research associate at the International Peace Institute, New York; and a lecturer in politics, as well as research director, at the Centre for Refugee Studies, Moi University, Kenya; before joining the government as a management analyst at the Office of the President. She is also a founding member of the Africa Policy Institute (API).

Her first job in government was in the Office of the President where she worked as a management analyst before she started her master’s degree. She completed the MA in 1991.

But that brief period in government was the launch-pad for Dr Juma who has in many ways become the key cog of President Kenyatta’s government.
Since then, she has been engaged in a number of places, during which she has developed great interest in areas of forced migration.

She was involved in the establishment of the Centre for Refugee Studies at Moi University following an influx of Somali refugees.

Dr Juma would replicate that at Makerere and Dar es Salaam universities where she also helped establish similar centres.

She was also involved in areas of women empowerment — and was part of the team that assessed the Beijing +10 under UNDP programmes.

After her doctorate, she worked in New York with the International Peace Academy as an African fellow in capacity building for crisis and conflict response across some 18 sub-Saharan African countries.

She would later move on to South Africa during the big debate of the transformation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to the present day African Union (AU).

A close associate of Dr Juma said that the tough bureaucrat was also part of the team that looked at the initial proposals for establishment of Nepad programmes, particularly the peace and security programme which was being chaired by then South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Along with that, she took part in the establishment of general programmes on governance, including the AU Declaration on Good Governance that has become a benchmark for governance and electoral politics on the continent.

By the nature of her work and interests, she was involved in the establishment of the AU Peace and Security Council, including its formative document and modalities of work.

Her contribution to the development of Africa came at IPA as the executive director, creating the African Capacity Building Foundation now operating out of Dakar, Senegal.

Perhaps the darkest moments in her stint as a Interior Principal Secretary was the recent terrorist attack where 148 people were killed at Garissa University College by Al-Shabaab terror group.

The Westgate Mall terror attack also occurred when she was the Defence principal secretary. An estimated 67 people died.