Parliament is considering new rules on who can become a Kenyan ambassador. The Foreign Service (Amendment) Bill, 2026 sets out how ambassador posts are shared between career diplomats and people appointed from outside the diplomatic service.
Under the bill, career diplomats would make up as much as 70 per cent of nominees. People recruited from outside the professional foreign service would make up no more than 30 per cent. The bill states that a nomination “shall reflect a composition of career and non-career diplomats, of which not more than seventy per cent shall represent career diplomats; and not more than thirty per cent shall represent non-career diplomats.”
The 70:30 rule would replace the current requirement for a “fair balance” between career diplomats and other appointees. Rules on gender, regional and other forms of diversity would remain. The bill also defines a career diplomat as someone who has served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for at least 10 years.
Mwingi West MP Charles Ngusya is sponsoring the bill. The bill says its aim is to put more experienced foreign service officers in senior diplomatic posts. The President would still nominate ambassadors, high commissioners and other envoys. The National Assembly would still have to approve them.
The National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations is now hearing views from stakeholders. It will then prepare its recommendations.
On Tuesday, the International Relations Society of Kenya (IRSK) called for clearer wording. It argued that the bill should set 70 per cent as the minimum share for career diplomats, not the maximum. The society also asked how the 10-year service period would be calculated. It wants to know whether secondments and assignments outside the ministry would count.
The Association of Former and Retired Ambassadors backed the reforms. It proposed raising the experience requirement to 15 years of continuous service. It also wants career diplomats to have reached at least the rank of Director or Minister Counsellor.