Kenya
Description of Work:
Chirau Ali Mwakwere served as the Foreign Minister of Kenya from June 2004 to December 2005, and then became transport minister in December 2005, when serious problems within the National Rainbow Coalition caused a cabinet reshuffle. As a young man he became well-educated and entered government service in 1967, serving as an ambassador to several countries and also in several domestic positions, including education.

He was a member of the Kenya African National Union until 2002, rising to the rank of deputy leader, but he left to join the new opposition National Rainbow Coalition which won the 2002 elections. He is a Muslim and enjoys playing golf.

Mwakwere remained Minister for Transport in the Cabinet named by President Mwai Kibaki on January 8, 2008, following the controversial December 2007 presidential election, and after Kibaki and his rival, Raila Odinga, reached a power-sharing agreement, Mwakwere remained in his post as Minister for Transport in the grand coalition Cabinet named on April 13, 2008.