Bitange Ndemo: Phone Can’t Stop Ringing After Landing Ambassadorial Job

Days after his appointment as Kenya’s ambassador to Belgium, Prof Bitange Ndemo says people cannot stop reaching out to him.

He says friends have been calling to congratulate him for his new post since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a list of new appointees.

In an interview with Nation, Ndemo also noted that people who have not been in touch with him for a while have also been reaching out.

“I have received a lot of phone calls in the last few days of people congratulating me, some are individuals who have been in touch with me throughout the years while others are people I have not talked to in a while

“I understand that this is human nature, when you lose a job or position many would distance themselves and only come back when something good happens,” he said.

In 2015, Ndemo hot headlines after narrating how his friends deserted him after he lost his Permanent Secretary job.

Also Read: Bitange Ndemo: The Former PS Who Was Abandoned By Friends After Losing Job, Now Ambassador

“My phone went silent when I was fired, I then realized that I did not have friends, they were just my colleagues,” he said.

He lost his job following the retirement of President Mwai Kibaki.

During his stint as the PS in the Ministry of Information and Communication, he championed policies that facilitated the installation of undersea submarine cables and the reduction of mobile transformation rates(MTRS).

He also oversaw the initiation of The Kenyan Open Data and the growth of tech hubs such as iHub and mLab in Kenya.

In 2006, he received the prestigious presidential Chief of the Burning Spear of Kenya (CBS) award for his distinguished services to the country.