UN chief picks ex-Kenyan minister to head UNCTAD

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has nominated former Kenyan trade minister Mukhisa Kituyi to head the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). A statement from the UN body said on Thursday that if the nomination is confirmed by the UN General Assembly, Kituyi will head the UN body for a term of four years beginning on Sept. 1. "The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has nominated Mukhisa Kituyi of Kenya to serve as Secretary-General of UNCTAD for a term of four years beginning 1 September 2013," Ban said in a statement. Kituyi who is the chief executive of the Kenya Institute of Governance is expected to succeed Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand who assumed the post on Sept. 1, 2005 and was reappointed in 2009. The statement said Supachai who has been at the helm of the UN body for eight years, will conclude his second four-year term of office on Aug. 31. The Kenyan former lawmaker is a graduate of Political Science and International Relations from Makerere University in Uganda is also a holder a PhD in Social Anthropology, a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies and a Diploma in Science, Comparative Production Systems, all from the University of Bergen, Norway.