When President William Ruto publicly named Humphrey Wattanga as Kenya’s next ambassador to South Africa on April 8, it seemed like a routine political move. A soft landing for a top taxman whose departure from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) had been anything but quiet.
Wattanga had been ousted by the tax body board after he refused to resign, cutting his three-year term, according to Business Daily. The same day after his removal, President Ruto nominated him as High Commissioner to South Africa.
Seven days later, on April 16, the nomination was formally announced to parliament by Speaker Moses Wetangula, according to parliamentary records.
The Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations has already met for a briefing on the vetting of Wattanga alongside Julius Murori Mbijiwe, nominated as ambassador to the Vatican (The Holy See).
The confirmation hearing was set on April, 27. Then something changed.
Within two weeks of the original announcement, State House had quietly abandoned Pretoria as the destination. Ottawa, Canada, was the posting.
“The nominees, Humphrey Wattanga, proposed for appointment as High Commissioner to Ottawa, Canada,” read a parliamentary update made on Thursday evening.
Nobody has explained what changed in those 15 days. The nominee has not helped clarify matters. Rather than appear before the Committee as scheduled for next week, he has requested additional time, according to sources.
Wattanga wrote to request an additional 30 days before appearing for the approval hearing, a move that drew objections from some members of the ruling party-led committee.
His request before the confirmation hearing next week may legally face a more fundamental obstacle.
Under Section 8 of the Public Appointments Parliamentary Approval Act of 2011, a parliamentary committee is required to consider a nomination and table its report within fourteen days of the notification of nomination.
Speaker Moses Wetangula formally announced Wattanga’s nomination to parliament on April 16. The statutory clock began running that day. It expires on April 30. The hearing already scheduled for April 27 falls within that legal window. Wattanga’s request for a 30-day extension does not.
If the Committee grants the extension and the fourteen days expire without a formal vote, Section 9 of the same Act provides an outcome Wattanga may not have anticipated: a candidate neither approved nor rejected within the statutory period is deemed to have been approved by default.
Section 12 grants the parliamentary committee powers equivalent to those of the High Court, including the power to summon any person to appear and enforce their attendance.
Wattanga’s request for more time is precisely that, a request. The Committee, led by Nelson Koech, can decline it, set the April 27 hearing regardless, and compel his appearance under statutory authority.
Whether it will do so is another question. Its response to the 30-day request will reveal whether parliament intends to exercise its constitutional oversight role — or quietly accommodate an appointment process that has, from the beginning, struggled to follow its own rules.
Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary (PS) Sing’Oei Korir has not responded to written questions submitted earlier today for this story by the time of publication.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s sitting ambassador to Canada, Carolyne Kamende, who stood before the Governor General at Rideau Hall in December 2024 and presented her credentials in the formal commencement of her diplomatic mission, has not been informed that she may be leaving.
She has been in office for over a year since she arrived in Ottawa.
