President William Ruto on Tuesday disclosed that Colombian Vice President Francia Mina Marquez has traced her roots to Kenya.
Speaking during the ongoing Africa Climate Summit (ACS) at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi on Tuesday, the President said the Colombian second-in-command’s Kenyan name has also since been identified as Nyawira.
President Ruto explained that Ms. Marquez, during a recent visit to the country, had seen her descendants traced to Meru County.
“By the way, Francia has a Kenyan name. She is called Nyawira. When she came to Kenya we traced her origin to a place called Meru,” Ruto said after the Colombian VP’s address, amidst applause.
Ms. Marquez, in August 2020, threw her heart in the ring and announced her stab at Colombia’s top seat in the 2022 presidential election through the Historic Pact for Colombia coalition.
The coalition however nominated Gustavo Petro as its presidential candidate, and he went ahead to pick her as his running mate.
She was sworn into office on August 7, 2022, and was designated to take office as Minister for Women and Equality this year.
She is the first Afro-Colombian woman to hold the VP position in Colombia, in the government of the country’s current President Gustavo Petro.
Ms. Marquez is however the second woman to hold the VP post, after Marta Lucía Ramírez, who served in the position from 2018 to 2022.
Over 10,000 delegates across the world have graced this year’s Africa Climate Summit which is themed ‘Driving Green Growth and Climate Finance Solutions for Africa and the World.’
The summit, which kicked off on Monday and runs until Wednesday, prior to this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) slated for November 30 through December 12 in Dubai.
