President Kenyatta during a stopover in Chad/PSCU
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 18 – President Uhuru Kenyatta jetted back into the country on Thursday evening from the Mediterranean city of Marrakech, Morocco, where he addressed the United Nations climate change summit.
The Plane carrying the President and his delegation touched down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport shortly before 9.00 p.m as the country tuned in to prime time news broadcasts of 1,000 looming job cuts in an East African Portland Cement Company rationalisation exercise.
Kenya’s manufacturing sector has in recent days experienced severe blows on account of cheaper imports and EAPCC’s news followed that of Eveready selling its land in Nakuru on which its factory had sat.
READ: Portland Cement to lay off 1,500 in turn around plan
It also follows news that 300 staff at Standard Chartered Bank risk losing their jobs following the decision by the bank to migrate its Shared Service Centre operations based in Nairobi to its Global Shared Services Centre in Chennai, India.
READ: 300 jobs on the line as StanChart moves regional service centre to India
On arrival, the Head of State was received by senior government officials who included Majority Leader in the National Assembly Aden Duale, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Amb. Monica Juma and Chief of the Defence Forces, General Samson Mwathethe.
At the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22), President Kenyatta urged world leaders to remain committed to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change that gave hope to poorest countries.
In support of the agreement, the Head of State said his Cabinet has approved its ratification and now awaits the final ratification by Parliament.
The President welcomed the coming into force of the Paris Agreement, saying it will provide the much-needed impetus to address climate change for a safer future.
President Kenyatta emphasised the need to synchronise the implementation processes of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals.
He said the development of the rulebook to guide the implementation of the Agreement must keep in focus its objective, principles and provisions of the convention, including equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.
While in Morocco, President Kenyatta also met 30 African leaders on the margins of the COP22 to drum up support for Amb. Amina Mohamed, Kenya’s candidate for the post of Chairperson of the African Union Commission.
Among the leaders were those from Nigeria, Gabon, Rwanda, Seychelles, the Comoros, Sudan, Senegal and Chad.
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