King’s birthday celebration 2023 in Mombasa, Kenya: Josephine Gauld's speech
British High Commission Nairobi Chargé d’affaires, Josephine Gauld gave a speech to celebrate King Charles III, the deep connections between UK and Kenya.
Ni furaha yangu kuwakaribisha nyote katika hii sherehe ya siku ya kuzaliwa kwa mfalme Charles usiku wa leo. (I am delighted to welcome you all to this celebration of the King’s Birthday, tonight).
Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we gather here to celebrate, for the first time, the Birthday of His Majesty King Charles III following his coronation last month. Tonight, we want to celebrate the UK-Kenya partnership as we look forward to the future at the start of King Charles’ reign.
It is wonderful to be at the coast. This is our first party at the coast since Covid. We are delighted to be back in Mombasa this year. The UK is an island nation whose history, fortunes and culture have been shaped by the sea.
Our coast continues to connect us to the rest of the world and just like Kenya, the UK draws strength from our diversity, from our openness to the world and from our global connections.
Thousands of people from the United Kingdom travel, live, work and invest in Kenya’s coastal counties.
The UK partnership with the Coast and its people is going from strength to strength and tonight is an opportunity to network, to build even stronger bonds and to celebrate everyone here tonight for the part you play in knitting the rich fabric that binds our countries together.
Her Majesty the Queen’s connections to Kenya and the famous treetops story are well known. But her son, His Majesty King Charles III also has connections to Kenya. He first visited Kenya in 1971 alongside the Princess Royal. He visited again in 1977 for a photographic safari, in 1978 to attend President Jomo Kenyatta’s funeral and visited in 1987 as part of his three-nation tour that also took him to the southern African countries of Swaziland (present day Eswatini) and Malawi.
The UK-Kenya security partnership remains unparalleled in the region, especially at the Coast making Kenya, the region and our people more secure. We recently handed over a UK funded newly built Anti-Terrorism Police Unit Headquarters in Mombasa which should become fully operational later this month.
The UK has also worked with Kenya’s security agencies to enhance the vehicle checkpoint on Sabaki Bridge meaning more effective and safe searches and reduced disruption to traffic.
When we speak of our defence relationship with Kenya, many will think of the army. However, here at the Coast we are working with the Kenyan Navy. In cooperation with the Danish, the UK has co-funded a dive boat and delivered a Damage Control Unit that complements the Firefighting Unit donated last year.
We have followed this up with boarding, Sea Survival and Fire Fighting training, all designed to help the Kenya Navy deliver International Maritime Organisation compliant training for your own Navy.
Along with the numerous professional courses provided in the UK, covering everything from staff training to seamanship and engineering, the UK’s main effort this year has been in helping Kenya to develop a Marine Commando Unit.
As part of a collaborative project with the US, we have built an assault course here in Mombasa, sent the first ever Kenyan on the elite Royal Marines Officer Training course and had the Royal Marines train first batch of Kenyan Marines and Marine instructors.
This all serves to underline that the UK recognises the importance of maritime security, the enormity of the challenges faced in the Western Indian Ocean and the important role Kenya is playing in overcoming them.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In recent years, we have deepened the UK’s connections to the Kenyan coast. The UK Visas & Immigration service operates a Visa Application Centre in Mombasa, meaning you no longer have to travel to Nairobi in order to travel to the UK.
The British Council also operates an Exam Centre so English language exams, including those necessary for UK university admission, and can be sat here at the Coast.
We are celebrating 40yrs of Chevening with over 700 Kenyan scholars having gone through the program (and counting). Many have impacted their communities and become influential leaders of this great nation.
Kenya is one of the few countries that has benefitted from the Chevening program from its onset back in 1983. In attendance we have the Chevening Alumni Network Chairman – Samuel Odawo, who runs a successful association. And we are always keen to have new scholars from the coastal regions.
The UK has also invested in research in Kenya supporting over 800 staff and 50 PhD students in Kilifi and Nairobi, and publishing scientific papers to support evidence-informed decision making.
We have also been proud to work directly with young people from all along the coast, alongside human rights campaigners, religious groups, women’s rights organisations and county governments, to realise their potential and make a positive contribution to their communities.
We are proud that British investment on the Coast is supporting thousands of jobs. The KES8.9 trillion solar plant in Malindi, co-funded by the UK is producing electricity is providing affordable power to Kenyans within coast region and it is connected to the national grid.
The new chilli and fruit professing facility in Kilifi is supporting livelihoods. In Mombasa, the UK has invested KES5 billion to support clean, green infrastructure. These are just a few of the vital economic and trading links between the UK and the coast.
Our trade team, in collaboration with the British Chamber of Commerce in Kenya is also building strategic trade and Investment partnerships between Kenya and the United Kingdom. Our bilateral trade is now valued at KES212 billion (£1.2 billion), and some of the big corporates present here this evening contribute to those figures.
British companies are amongst the largest taxpayers and employers in Kenya. We want to increase these figures and help the UK and Kenya private sector collaboration.
Climate Change remains a key concern. In Lamu and other areas in the coast, the UK’s Darwin Initiative programme has allowed us to work with communities on improving marine conservation and supporting their livelihoods with new approaches to sustainable fishing.
Through the Kaya Connect project, we are working with Botanic Gardens Conservation International in the region to regenerate forests in coastal Kenya, benefitting people and threatened trees, by mapping forest fragments, protecting and restoring sites for connectivity, providing training and jobs for local people and securing long-term political and public support.
Through the International Institute for Environment and Development, we are supporting the restoration of degraded forests. Not forgetting the ocean, we continue to support efforts to protecting the marine environment.
This morning, I joined my colleagues from the BHC in a beach clean-up exercise of the Nyali Beach. We were joined by UNEP, KWS and Scouts. Hopefully we’ve made it a better environment for marine wildlife ahead of World Turtle Day tomorrow.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Before I let you get back to the festivities, I would like to say a special ‘Thank you’ to the sponsors who made it possible for the event to happen. Flamingo Flowers, Africa Global Logistics, G4S, Seaforth, Braeburn Schools, Centum Real Estates and EABL - thank you!
Together with many Kenyan partners, the UK is making a difference to the lives of people along the Kenyan coast. Today I recommit the UK to our partnership for the years ahead.
Mungu awabariki nyote, na Mungu aibariki Kenya (God Bless you all, God Bless Kenya).
Please all join me as we raise a glass to His Majesty the King – God bless the King!