The Executive Secretary CTBTO paid a courtesy call to the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Education Prof. George Maghoha who was represented by the Principal Secretary, State Department of University Education and Research (SDUER), Amb. Simon Nabukwesi. The Executive Secretary held fruitful discussions with the PS that touched on the important role Kenya is playing in keeping the world safe from nuclear tests by hosting two International Monitoring Systems (IMS) stations, one using infrasound technology (IS32) at Karura forest and the other using seismic technology (PS24) at Kilimambogo. The Executive Secretary noted that Kenya has contributed to a better world through the relay of timely data to the International Data Center (IDC) and thanked the technical Team lead by Prof, Norbert Opiyo for the excellent work.
The PS SDUER, Amb. Simon Nabukwesi on behalf of the Cabinet Secretary thanked the Executive Secretary for choosing to visit Kenya as his first since appointment to office and also for upgrading the centers equipment. He assured the Executive secretary of the Kenya governments support towards the implementation of the treaty and noted that out of the 53 African states only 7 have not ratified the CTBTO, all of which Kenya has some diplomatic relations, Amb. Nabukwesi said Kenya is well placed in the region to take a lead in assisting the states legislate and later ratify the treaty. The Team agreed that Kenya should come up with a regional training program to assist in capacity building of more experts in the region and help create more awareness on CTBTO.
The National Authority Prof. Walter Oyawa thanked the Executive secretary and the PS, the Station Operators led by Prof. Opiyo for their commitment to the implementation of the treaty and pledged to continue coordinating future activities including the proposal on hosting of the regional training and capacity development, bringing on board government agencies and more stakeholders to help create awareness on CTBTO.
The Executive Secretary was accompanied by, Elyes Lakhal, external relations officer, Mohamed Hassan Darya, Special Assistant to the Executive Secretary and Gerhard Graham Programs and projects coordinator. NACOSTI was represented by the National focal point officer and Director General Prof. Walter Oyawa, Acting Director Technical Services, Dr. David Njubi, Dr. Mary Onsarigo and Mr. Situma Stephen. Also present in the meeting were Prof. Norbert Opiyo (station Manager) and Dr. Josephat Mulwa UoN (Data center Manager).
Earlier on Sunday, the Executive Secretary visited the two International Monitoring Systems (IMS) centers at Karura forest and Kilimambogo and met with the staff. He thanked them for the excellent job they were doing to maintain the 5-star rating that Kenya has on data management and reporting.