Kenyan’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo has lost a bid to become the next International Fund for Agricultural Development(Ifad) president to Mr Alvaro Lario of Spain.
Mr Lario is taking over from Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo, who has led Ifad since April 1, 2017.
Mr Lario was elected overwhelmingly by delegates attending a three-day Ifad conference in Rome, Italy, that began on Wednesday. His starts on October 1 and he will serve for a four-year term, which is renewable.
Speaking after his appointment, Mr Lario said he was up to the task and prepared to work with member states to build resilience and enhance public-private partnerships in enhancing Ifad’s agenda.
“The private sector is very key to providing job opportunities among the women and the youth. We will scale up three or four times the partnership we have with the youth,” Mr Lario said.
The new president noted that issues of migration, conflict and climate change are affecting many rural farmers.
Before his appointment, he had worked as Ifad’s chief financial officer and an associate vice-president for financial operations since 2018.
Battling food insecurity
Mr Lario takes the post as the world is battling food insecurity triggered by the war in Ukraine, climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We have the institutions to tackle poverty, we have the know-how to reduce inequality. What we need is to mobilise resources and join forces,” he said.
Mr Lario was among four candidates seeking the post. The others were Ms Omamo, Mr Shobhana Kumar Pattanayak of India and Mr Khaled A. Mahdi from Kuwait.
Only female candidate
Ms Omamo was the only female candidate. Since its inception in 1977, Ifad has had only five presidents. And for its entire 45-year history, no woman has occupied that seat.
In February, Kenya’s Energy Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma withdrew her candidacy from the race for secretary-general of the 53-nation Commonwealth.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed also lost the race for World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general to Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in 2020.
Ms Mohamed was also Kenya’s candidate for the African Union Commission chairperson in 2017. She lost to Chad’s Moussa Faki though Kenya had spent more than Sh400 million on lobbying for the position.
