RAPHAEL TUJU

'Raphael Tuju' (born 1959) is a Kenyan politician.
When the National Rainbow Coalition took power in 2003, Tuju became information minister. By 2005 he had become well-known for his feud with roads minister Raila Odinga. He was believed to be in danger of losing his political career, but on December 8, 2005, he became foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle, and still holds that position. Tuju is a member of Parliament from Rarieda constituency. He was first elected in the 2002 Kenya General Elections. He has a master's degree in Mass Communication from the University of Leicester.
Prior to the 2005 referendum vote in Kenya, Tuju formed the progressive peoples party (PPP) with a view to swaying votes away from the "orange No campaign". He joined Narc through the LDP.
This was seen as an act of betrayal by his Rarieda constituents and
by extension the Luo Nyanza populace of which he was a member.
During plenary discussions at the 29th Assilah Cultural Festival at the city of Asillah in Morocco, under the theme: Africa and Europe; Challenges and Obligations of each other held on 5th August 2007, Kenya Foreign Affairs minister, Mr Raphael Tuju, stole the lime light at the forum with his straight talk deriding European governments for bad policies that inhibited trade with Africa[3]. He accused European regimes of ramming punitive policies down the throats of poor African nations. He told Europe to either put up with Africa or continue applying, in futility, "short term and desperate measures," like, tongue-in-cheek, "erecting a huge wall like the famous China masterpiece or reinforcing border patrols to keep away intruding African immigrants"[3]. Tuju delved into a raft of unjust tariff and non-tariff barriers that would stifle the growth of Africa and widen the resource gap with Europe. He particularly expressed displeasure at the recent move by some EU countries to impose stiff regulations on Kenya that were bound to stifle the country’s vibrant horticulture industry[3]. Kenya is the biggest exporter of flowers, accounting for 26 per cent of the world’s market. The draconian carbon miles policy and another requirement for fumigation of Kenya’s flower exports, said Tuju, were discriminatory and aimed at unfairly curtailing the dominance of the country’s products. On the other hand, Tuju argued the fumigation of Kenya’s flowers was calculated to reduce their shelf life and hence cheapen them at the world market. He also took issue with discriminatory sports policies such as the one imposed on the country’s athletes by the United States, limiting the number of entrants in a competition[3].

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External links

[1] http://www.parliament.go.ke/MPs/members_tuju_r.php
[2] http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/61/pdfs/kenya-e.pdf
[3] http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143972446(Standard Newspaper, Kenya 6th Aug 07)