“We have very good agreements in the improvement of health in my country where today a hundred doctors are working in different communities; we must take this assistance to other fields of this important sector,” Chege told Prensa Latina, after he presented his accreditation to President Miguel Díaz-Canel last Thursday.

The ambassador pointed out that half a hundred Kenyan doctors have traveled to Cuba to specialize in primary health care as family doctors, “and another 45 will come, while young Kenyans are studying medical sciences here”.

“Kenya is very grateful to Cuba for the great help it gave us when the Covid-19 pandemic hit us hard. Doctors from the Henry Reeve Brigade spared no efforts and risks to cure and save lives in my country,” stressed the head of Mission, who described that gesture of solidarity as unforgettable.

We also collaborated in the fight to eradicate malaria, particularly in the Lake Victoria region, where this disease is endemic,” he added.

But we must go further, he stressed. “We must invigorate and diversify cooperation, taking it to the field of biotechnology, vaccine development, trade, agriculture, sports and culture,” Chege pointed out.

The ambassador said that in co-production partnership with Cuban companies Kenya can become a hub for the distribution and commercialization of vaccines and other biopharmaceuticals in East African countries. “That negotiation is on the agenda,” he said.

Likewise, he hopes to expand collaboration in sports. “Kenya is very good in long-distance running, we can provide assistance in these specialties to Cuba and receive from it help in boxing, high jump and baseball in which Cuban athletes excel,” he suggested.

Chege assured that Kenya will continue to collaborate in multilateral forums on issues of mutual interest and support for candidacies, “and will continue to demand an end to the unjust U.S. economic and commercial blockade” against the island.

Gathoga W. Chege is Kenya’s second head of mission on the island since Nairobi opened its embassy in 2016, the African country’s first in the Caribbean and Central America.

From Havana, Chege will be concurrent ambassador to all member countries of the Caribbean Community, as well as Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Dominican Republic and Venezuela where he plans to present credentials in the coming weeks.

“The Kenyan government is very interested in solidifying relations with these countries,” said the diplomat who said that in its current foreign policy Nairobi sees the peoples of the Caribbean as the African diaspora with which it wishes to increasingly strengthen ties.

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