Monica Juma

H.E. Monica Juma is the first-ever National Security Advisor to the President of the Republic of Kenya. Prior to her appointment, she served as Cabinet Secretary in five strategic Ministries of the Republic of Kenya, namely the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign affairs, and as Acting Ministry in the docket of Petroleum and Mining. She has served as Principal Secretary in the security triad: Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs. She was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kenya to Ethiopia and Djibouti, and Permanent Representative of Kenya to the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and United Nations Commission for Africa (UNECA). She was in the United Nations Secretary General’s (UNSG) High Level Panel on Resourcing African Union, led UNSC mandated peacekeeping missions, and consulted for many UN and African Union agencies on matters of security, peace, governance and development. She is the patron of the Athena Mentorship programme and is well published in security and peace studies.