Ex-Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille appointed Kenya’s top UN envoy
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres has appointed Garry Conille as the UN Resident Coordinator for Kenya.
Conille, the former Prime Minister of Haiti takes over the role after the exit of Dr. Stephen Jackson, who held the role since 2021. Jackson will take over the Resident Coordinator position in China.
While announcing the appointment, the UN said Conille “brings over 20 years of experience in international development, humanitarian affairs and public administration to the position.”
Conille’s appointment followed the approval of Kenya – his new host nation.
The Haitian envoy will serve as the UN Secretary-General’s representative in Kenya, leading efforts in driving the progress of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The new RC is also expected to lead the UN in engagements with the Government of Kenya, civil society, development partners and other stakeholders in public and private sectors.
The appointment is not a first for Conille, who in 2020 served as UN Resident Coordinator for Jamaica. This was after holding the same role in Burundi from 2017 to 2020.
The diplomat has decades of experience working with the UN and Non-Governmental Organisations, having begun his career working with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Haiti.
Conille is not new to Kenya
The new UN Resident is not very new to Kenya, having worked with the country’s leadership, especially during his stint as Haitian Prime Minister.
Conille’s position as Prime Minister came at a critical time, when the Carribean nation struggled with gang violence that has led to humanitarian, security, and political crisis.
Under this position, the diplomat visited Kenya on a four-day official visit in October 2024. His visit followed a United Nations Security Council approval of the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to support peace-keeping in Haiti.
Then, Kenya had flagged off 400 police officers to Haiti, and 600 others were undergoing pre-deployment training.
In a joint address with Conille, President William Ruto noted “positive results” from the Kenya-led MSS, saying the PM’s visit would strengthen security cooperation and accelerate the deployment of Kenyan police to the Caribbean nation.
Conille’s visit also brought up challenges of funding and logistics that the Kenya-led MSS was facing in its mission to combat gangs that controlled significant parts of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
Shortly after his Kenyan visit, Conille was ousted from the Prime Minister position. On November 10, Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council removed Conille from office and named businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé as the new Prime Minister. The removal, just six months after his appointment, followed a period of intense political infighting and power struggles between him and the council.
“This resolution, taken outside any legal and constitutional framework, raises serious concerns about its legitimacy,” the BBC quoted Conille’s response on his dismissal.
This was Conille’s second stint as Haitian PM, a position he first held from October 2011 to May 2012 under President Michel Martelly.
Stephen Jackson exit
Conille’s predecessor Stephen Jackson on Tuesday held a farewell meeting with President William Ruto as his tour of duty in the country came to an end.
Here, Ruto hailed the cordial relationship that Kenya shares with the UN, being the host of multiple agencies and home to the only UN headquarters across the Global South.
The Head of State thanked Jackson for his “exemplary service and wished him well in his next assignment.”
As Jackson takes over his next assignment in China, he reflected on his 5-year journey, saying he has seen Kenya’s positive transformation.
“Everything that has changed for the good in Kenya, the growth, the development, but also the things that have remained constant-the warmth, the enthusiasm, the hard work, and the optimism of the Kenyan people,” he reflected during a press conference on March 25, 2026.
In his exit interview, Jackson noted the lag in fulfilment of SDGs, only 4 years to the 2030 deadline.
In his perspective, being off-track in SDGs is not unique to Kenya, as other developing and developed countries face the same challenge.
“On the one hand, Kenya is making good, steady progress towards quite a number of the goals. But the bad news is, yes, we’re off-track on others of them, and Kenya’s not alone in that-in fact, the SDGs are off-track around the world,” he noted.
However, he expressed confidence that strategies such as changes in financing frameworks could accelerate progress towards achieving the 2030 agenda.
“That needs to happen really urgently. We’ve got to get back on track for the SDGs. Will we make it? We have to make it. We have no choice; there is no alternative,” he submitted.
Born in Ireland, Jackson took over his role as Kenya’s Resident Coordinator in 2021, having served in other UN positions in African countries including Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi.
