Najib Balala bags job at elite global conservation charity after cabinet exit

Former Tourism CS Najib Balala has secured a plum job at prestigious conservation charity, Fauna & Flora International (FFI), after missing out on President William Ruto’s cabinet list.

FFI announced Balala’s appointment as a new Vice-President joining 37 other eminent Vice Presidents at the critical organization focusing on conservation and is based in the UK.

Princess Laurentien of The Netherlands is the President of FFI and William, The Prince of Wales, its Patron heading a long list of eminent persons associated with organisation.

FFI, which was formed in 1903, is the world’s oldest international wildlife conservation organization and has influenced various conservation practices in many countries globally.

“Our focus is on protecting biodiversity (the diversity of life on Earth), which underpins healthy ecosystems and is critical for the life-support systems that humans and all other species rely on,” FFI says on its website.

Balala, who served as Tourism CS under former President Uhuru Kenyatta, is lauded for launching and effecting the National Wildlife Strategy 2030 in 2018 and Wildlife Policy 2021.

He is the longest serving minister for tourism as he previously also held the position from the start of 2008 until March 26, 2012, when he was fired during a cabinet reshuffle by late President Mwai Kibaki.

The former politician was elected the Mayor of the Mombasa in 1998 before being propelled to be elected the Member of Parliament for Mvita in the 2002 general election.

He once also served as Vice Chairman of Kenya Tourism Board (KTB), Chairman of All Local Government Association of Kenya and Chairman of Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association.

Balala went mute during the heated presidential campaigns ahead of the August 9 poll as some of his CS colleagues openly campaigned for Uhuru’s preferred successor Raila Odinga.

Due to his silence on the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance presidential candidate, it was widely assumed he would be in the Ruto cabinet after congratulating him for his poll victory.

However, the new Head of State settled on Peninah Malonza to replace him at the helm of the Ministry of Tourism leaving the long-serving politician and minister to lick his wounds.

At FFI, Balala is set to apply his experience in the tourism and wildlife conservation sectors to enhance the global charity initiatives in Africa and beyond as a new Vice-President.

The 55-year-old is the first and only Kenyan to hold the powerful post at the global charity.