Saturday Nation can reveal the identities of the envoys whose appointments have been kept under wraps over the past two weeks.

The appointees have been undergoing training in Nairobi and Mombasa, where journalists have been kept away.

Mystery surrounded the appointment of the new envoys, who replace those recalled earlier this month, as reports emerged that they had not been cleared by the National Security Intelligence Service.

Vetting by the intelligence agency is mandatory before top government positions such as ambassadors and high commissioners are filled.

Among those appointed are Dr Josephine Ojiambo (deputy resident representative, New York), Mr Benson Ogutu (Tokyo), Ms Monica Juma (AU headquarters in Addis Ababa), Mr Ken Osinde (Berlin, Germany), Mr Kipyego Cheluget (Lusaka, Zambia), Mr Paul Kibiwott Kurgat (Moscow, Russia), Mr Mohamed Ali Saleh (Riyadh), Mr Galma Boru (Doha), Mr Rashid Ali (Tehran), Ms Josephine Gaita (Rome, Italy), Mr Peter Kirimi Kaberia (Brazil), Mr Elkanah Odembo (Washington DC, US), Mr Anthony Andanje (deputy resident representative, Geneva), Ms Josephine Awuor (Harare), Ms Jean Kimani (Great Lakes), Mr Dave Arunga (Cairo), Ms Salma Ahmed (Paris), Mr Samori Ang’wa Okwiya (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Mr Bramwel Kisuya (Madrid), Lt Gen Augustino S.K. Njoroge (Tel Aviv), Mr Peter Gitau (Windhoek), Ms Makena Muchiri (Kigali), Mr James Ochami (Kinshasa), Mr Cleland Leshore (Juba, Southern Sudan) and Mr Anthony Muchiri (Tripoli).

On Friday, Nation traced the envoys to Neptune Beach Hotel and Resort in Mombasa where they were moved from Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nairobi, but a manager there said that they had strict instructions not to allow journalists in.

Sources who talked to Saturday Nation on condition that they are not named said Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka was supposed to close the training course on Friday evening.

Contacted, Mr Onyonka said he was in Mombasa but would not divulge his mission.

Early this year, the government recalled 14 envoys and more than 100 junior staffers without giving reasons from Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Zambia and the United States among others.

Those recalled include Joseph Muchemi (UK), Dr Sospeter Machage (Russia), Mr Mutuma Kathurima (Germany), Mr Rateng Oginga Ogego (US) and Ms Ann Nyikuli (Italy). Others are Mr Mwakai Kikonde Sio (Spain) and Mr Lazarus Amayo (Zambia) in what Mr Onyonka described then as a normal.

“It’s a normal requirement after end of duty. The ministry has no problems with any of them,” Mr Onyonka was quoted.

The ambassadors and high commissioners who have been recalled are expected back by May 2 while the junior staff, who include education attaches and accountants are expected to return by June.

On Friday, Government spokesman Alfred Mutua, described reports of new ambassadors as rumours.

“Those are rumours and the government cannot comment on rumours. Whenever there are appointments, the government always makes an announcement,” he said.

However, Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula confirmed earlier this week that the government was replacing ambassadors and high commissioners.

Additional reporting by Mwakera Mwajefa

-Daily Nation

Eliud Abong'o at the Nairobi Hospital/CATHERINE KARONG'O

BY CATHERINE KARONG’O

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 30 – He is lying on his hospital bed, spitting on a bowl every so often as his wife offers a hand.

Eliud Abong’o cannot eat and is now on Intravenous Therapy where a patient is given liquid substances directly through the veins.

Although the young radio Journalist is trying to put on a brave face, one can easily see and tell the pain he is going through.

Elly, as he is known to many is suffering from colon cancer which comes with cancerous growths in the colon, rectum and appendix.

The journalist says he developed this problem in early 2008.  “I went to Kenyatta National hospital where I was diagnosed with colon cancer,” Elly explains.

According to medics, the symptoms of colon cancer depend on the location of the tumor in bowel and whether it has spread elsewhere in the body. Symptoms and signs are said to be divided into local, constitutional (which affects the whole body) and metastatic (caused by spread to other organs).

Elly says he underwent one surgery of the colon at Kenyatta hospital to make a bypass but three years down the line the disease seems to be progressing. He has also been on chemotherapy, a form of cancer treatment that uses chemical agents to kill cancer cells.

“I would go for sessions after every 21 days but now I have stopped as I await further medical treatment. Last year I went for eight sessions of chemotherapy which cost me about Sh800,000. This year I have gone for four which have already cost me Sh650,000,” he says.

“You see, the disease has finished me financially and what remains cannot cater for the house needs and everything else.”

The young father of one explains that his condition deteriorated about a month ago, when he was reading news at the BBC studios here in Nairobi.

“I was in the middle of the bulletin then all over a sudden I could not project my voice but you know I had to read the news and finish. People in the London office were listening and they said that is not Elly’s voice unless something is happening,” he remembers.

“By the time I was coming out of the studio there were so many people standing by the door asking me what happened but I was not able to speak and I felt weak,” Elly says.

Elly was rushed to hospital where he underwent a scan and the oncologist advised that he undergoes surgery, to remove the part of the colon that is affected. This type of surgery can only be done in India.

He now needs to raise Sh4.5 million to get the treatment in India where he is expected to stay for six to eight weeks.

With assistance from the media fraternity in Kenya, he is currently admitted to the Nairobi Hospital where he is on nutrient drips because he is unable to eat before he is flown to India.

“It seems as if now I need to go beyond drugs and have surgery,” he says.

Elly is now appealing to well wishers to help him raise the amount to enable him undergo the surgery.
 
Donations can be sent through ABONG’O MWIKOMA ELIUD ACC NO: 1116152320 KCB UNIVERSITY WAY.   You can also email abosske@yahoo.com or call CELL: +254 720 238034, +254 720 482252 for further information.

A major fundraising is also scheduled for May 4, 2010 at the Panafric hotel, Nairobi.

—CAPITAL FM