President Uhuru Kenyatta is reportedly unhappy with Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma and he's considering to sack her, reports indicate.
Ms Juma was elevated to ministerial position last year in February having previously served as PS in Interior and Foreign Affairs departments.
According to sources, Uhuru is unhappy with how she's steering Kenya's diplomatic missions, with supposed fallout with PS Kamau Macharia being one of the issues.
"Each one of them is doing what they want. Instead of pulling together in the interest of the country the two are busy doing their own things," said a cabinet minister aware of the friction.
Also, Uhuru is concerned with Monica's approach to Kenya-Somalia maritime dispute, despite managing to have International Court of Justice postponing the case for another two months.
"Apart from the legal team, our behind-the-scenes diplomacy has not worked. The team that has been handling the issue has been underrating Somalia. As a result, even our traditional (friends) have not been lobbied properly and others have no idea of what support we would like," said a senior official in the Office of the President.
On Friday, Kenya suffered a blow after African Union ruled out possibility of prevailing upon Somalia to drop the case from the ICJ.
In a statement, AU said that it was not in a position to interfere with the maritime case, adding that it's the two countries that can request to adjournment of the case.
The AU said it's only Somalia and Kenya can push for adjournment.“AU is not in a position to intervene,” it says. “Only the parties can request for the adjournment or removal of the case from ICJ," read the statement.
“At this stage, the African Union is not in a position to request to intervene as the time allowed for that request to take place has elapsed. The request should have been submitted to the Registry before the closure of written proceedings, i.e. Dec 2018," added the statement.
Further, Uhuru is said to be unhappy with dwindling relationship with Ethiopia. Last month, KDF blocked an Ethiopian plane from landing at Kismayo Airport.
A staff member at Kismayo airport, who gave his name as Ismail, said the plane took off from Gode in southeastern Ethiopia and eventually landed in the Somali town of Baidoa. It was not certain if the plane was civilian or military.
"It wanted to land at Kismayo airport but was denied clearance because it did not send information in advance," Ismail told Reuters by telephone.
At some point in 2016, MPs rejected President Uhuru Kenyatta's attempt to make Ms Juma a Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Civil Service. They accused her of arrogance.
Ms Juma is said to be at loggerheads with Mr Macharia, a close ally of the president. Macharia was Kenya's permanent representative to the United Nations.