Raychelle Omamo

Raychelle Awour Omamo (born July 1962) is a Kenyan lawyer and politician and an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. From 2020 to 2022, she was the Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister.

Early life and education
Omamo is a daughter to the late cabinet minister William Odongo Omamo. She studied law at the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.

Early career
Omamo worked as a Senior Counsel and an Advocate of the High Court for 27 years. She was the first female chairperson of the Law Society of Kenya from 2001 to 2003 after serving as a council member from 1996 to 2000 and Kenyan first female ambassador to France, Portugal, The Holy See and Serbia as well as the Permanent Delegate of the Kenya to UNESCO. She was a member of the Task Force on the Establishment of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission for Kenya.

Political career
Omamo served as the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Previously, she served as the Cabinet Secretary for Defence for 7 years in the Uhuru Kenyatta administration, the first female in the country to hold the post.

Omamo is currently the Vice-President of the East African Law Society, Kenya’s ambassador and Director at Mo-Consulty Ltd.

In 2022, Omamo was nominated as Kenya's candidate to succeed Gilbert Houngbo as president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); she ultimately lost out against Alvaro Lario.

Other activities

 * Munich Security Conference, Member of the Advisory Council (since 2023)
 * Amref Health Africa, Member of the Board of Directors