Mr. Erastus J.O. Mwencha, was appointed in June 1998 by the Heads of State and Government at the Second Summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Authority held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. He was re-appointed in 2001 to serve is second and final term as Secretary General till June 2008. Mr. Mwencha is a well-known regional integrationist who has devoted over twenty-three years on regional and international development agenda.

Career Highlights

Mr. Mwencha has been closely associated with the development of COMESA and its predecessor the Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern Africa right from its inception. COMESA which comprises nineteen (19) Member States is the premier African institution on regional integration; having established a Free Trade Area in 2000 and is now poised to create a Customs Union. He joined the PTA in 1983 as one of the senior officers that were initially recruited to launch the PTA. He was promoted to the position of Director for Industry, Energy and Environment in June 1987. He was particularly instrumental in the establishments of some of the COMESA specialized institutions: the Court of Justice, the Clearing House, the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (PTA Bank), the PTA Reinsurance Company (ZEP-RE), the Leather and Leather Products Institute.

He served as the interim Managing Director of a more recent COMESA specialized institution: The African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI-ACA), launched in August, 2001. ATI, based in Nairobi, is an independent African-wide institution supported by the World Bank, with the objective to facilitate access to and improved terms of trade and finance for imports and exports from African member countries in addition to offering political risk guarantee.

Prior to joining the PTA/COMESA, Mr. Mwencha worked for the Government of Kenya in various capacities. He joined the Industrial Survey and Promotion Centre a UNIDO sponsored project within the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as an Economist in 1974. He rose to the position of Principal Projects Officer in the same Ministry in 1980. He was Director of a number of public enterprises from 1979 to 1983. He also served as Head of the Department of Industry and as a Senior Economist in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Kenya. In 1979, Mr. Mwencha was appointed Secretary to the Industrial Science Advisory Council and by virtue of his position, he was also Member of the Research Council of the National Council for Science and Technology.

Education

Mr. Mwencha studied economics at the University of Nairobi (Kenya) where he graduated with a BA (Hons) in Economics in 1974 and later did his postgraduate studies (MA Economics) at York University in Toronto, Canada in 1978. The studies in Canada were sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency as part of Staff Development for the Civil Service.

Prizes and Awards

Mr. Mwencha was awarded the "Moran of the Burning Spear" by the President of the Republic of Kenya in recognition of his contribution to national and regional development.

Personal

Mr. Mwencha is a Kenyan, aged 58 years and married with three children. He was born on 15 November 1947