President William Ruto on Friday nominated Catherine Mueke to succeed recalled Dr Peter Mathuki as EAC Secretary General.
In the recent Foreign Service changes, President Ruto nominated Mathuki as his Ambassador to Russia, ending his stint in Arusha before his termed ended. His five-year term was to end in 2026.
President Ruto nominated Mueke within the provisions of Article 67 (1) of the EAC treaty, which provides: “The Secretary General shall be appointed by the Summit upon nomination by the relevant Head of State under the principle of rotation”.
Mueke, who describes herself as an international civil servant, is a public policy expert who has worked in various UN agencies and missions, among them UNESCO, UNDP and the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan.
According to her profile on the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service of New York University, Mueke always felt a strong pull towards public service as she grew up in Kenya.
Early in her professional career, the profile says, she worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Eastern Africa.
In that job it became clear to her that the challenges in her field were more complicated than she had imagined, with refugee camps staying open for decades. To strengthen her education in international public affairs, she enrolled in Wagner’s international program, which focuses on developing countries.
Her capstone project, whichaims to demonstrate a student’s mastery of a particular subject or field of study, focused on decentralization and local governance in sub-Saharan Africa.
Also while at Wagner, Mwende helped organize the Oprah Winfrey Scholars program, which brings two African women each year to NYU Wagner to study public policy and management. “For me,” Mwende says, “as an African woman, doing something to support other African women further their education in public administration (a much needed skill in Africa) was an important effort worth contributing to.”
She worked as a program specialist at UNDP and as a regional coordination adviser in the Management and Coordination Unit of the UN Regional Directors’ Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, based in Johannesburg.
