KENYA ELECTED HEAD OF PAN AFRICA POSTAL UNION
		Cairo, Egypt June 29 2008 Kenya’s Rodah Masaviru was today elected the Secretary General of the Pan African Postal Union during the organization’s Plenipotentiary Conference held here in Cairo, Egypt.Mrs. Masaviru beat her sole challenger Paul Ouedragou of Burkina Faso by 18 votes to 12 to clinch a four-year term at the helm of the continental body.PAPU has a membership of 43 African countries. Kenya was further elected to serve in the Union’s Administrative Council for four years.
Mrs.Rhoda Masaviru SECRETARY GENERAL				Mrs.Masaviru with Hon. Samule Poghisio

Information and Communications Minister Samuel Poghisio, who led a strong Kenya delegation to the conference, thanked the campaign team for a task well executed. “This just shows how much we can achieve with a focused group like this one. It has been a tiring job but one that was worth every bit of it. I thank all of you for the sterling performance”, the minister said.

Others in the delegation included Assistant Minister for Information and Communication, Major (Rtd) Dhadho Godhana, the chairman designate of the 24th UPU Congress Ambassador Bishar Hussein, Postmaster General of the Postal Corporation of Kenya Mr. Fred Odhiambo and the Acting Director General of Communications Commission of Kenya, Mrs. Peris Nkonge.

The post of Assistant Secretary General was uncontested as the sole candidate for the post, Collins Nkuo of Cameroun, withdrew on the floor of the election. The position will be re-advertised later.
Before today’s elections Mrs. Masaviru had served a four-year term as Assistant Secretary General of the Union headquartered in Arusha Tanzania. She holds a master’s degree in population studies from the University of Nairobi. Before joining the Union in 2004, Mrs. Masaviru had worked for over 20 years at both the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation as well as at the Postal Corporation of Kenya.