President William Ruto has tapped Salim Mvurya, whose career includes experience in non-governmental organizations and politics, to head the Ministry of Trade and Industrialization as its third CS in 20 months.
- Mvurya is the outgoing Cabinet Secretary ministry of Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs. The ministry forms an integral part in the economic take off of the country.
- He is one of the pioneer governors in Kenya’s devolved units having served Kwale County for two terms between 2013-2022.
- Mvurya has a degree in Agri-Business Management from Egerton University and a Masters Degree in Participation, Power and Social Change from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex in England, UK.
While appearing before parliamentary vetting committee in 2022, Mvurya said he designed and implemented transformative programmes in the areas of social development, economic and political transformation.
“In the area of social economic development, we were able to begin a very exciting programme in education called ‘elimu ni sasa’ where we were giving scholarships to students,” he said, “As I was handing over, we had over 4000 students under university and over 7000 in national secondary school programme where we were paying for theijr fees in the four years of their schooling.”
“In terms of economic transformation, I left Kwale ready for economic take off. Under political transformation, I left a county where citizen expect accountability and good governance in almost everything that is being done,” he added.
During his tenure as a governor, he also served as the vice chairman of the Council of Governors for two terms. In 1995, he worked as a field monitoring officer at Rea Vipingo Plantation before moving to Tegemeo Institute of Development Policy and Agriculture as a research assistant.
He had a 2-year stint at AgaKhan Foundation as a programme officer on Kwale Rural Support Programme. In the year 2000, he joined Plan International as a Programme Officer rising to Programme Unit Manager, Area manager and acting country Director.
If reappointed to the Cabinet in this new role, Mvurya will be the third substantive CS to hold the crucial Trade docket after Moses Kuria and Rebecca Miano.
