News Break
Newly appointed Kenyan Ambassador to the US H.E Lazurus Ombai Amayo officially took up his new position in Washington DC after presenting his credentials to US President Donald Trump at a ceremony at the White House.
A statement from the Kenyan Embassy in DC read, “Today (July 17), at White House, Washington DC, Ambassador Lazarus Amayo presented His Letters of Credence to HE President Donald Trump accrediting him as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kenya to the United States.”
The formalization comes one year after his appointment in May last year to replace Njeru Githae who moved on to Vienna Austria. Amayo, a son to to the former Karachuonyo MP David Okiki Amayo
Amayo has been the ambassador and permanent representative of Kenya to the United Nations and has for the past year served in both capacities.
In his remarks, US President Donald Trump hailed the cordial relationship between Kenya and the US and cited the ongoing negotiations towards Kenya-US free trade and investment agreement.
Amayo is a long serving diplomat who has served in various ambassadorial positions in the past 20 years. His first posting was as High Commissioner to India, serving between 1999 to 2004. After that he was appointed Kenya’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2014 to 2018, and also served as the Permanent Representative to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Commonwealth in London.
Between 2010 and 2014, Amayo was the Director of the Division for Europe and the Commonwealth at Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Has has been High Commissioner to Zambia and Malawi in addition to being the country’s Permanent Representative to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) from 2006 to 2010.
Between 2004 to 2006, Amayo served as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he also doubled up as the acting Director of Administration and Head of International Organizations and Conferences in the same Ministry.
Before joining the diplomatic corps, in 1999, Amayo was the CEO of Catering Levy Trustees, a State corporation, from 1993 to 1997. He previously served as Human Resource Manager at the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation.
