A Briton with Kenyan roots, Suella Braverman, has landed Interior minister’s post where she will be responsible for police and immigration.
New British Prime Minister Liz Truss appointed the Member of Parliament for Fareham in south-east England to the position to succeed Priti Patel as the second ethnic minority Home Secretary.
Ms Braverman was born in Harrow, north-west London in 1980 to Christie Fernandes, a Kenyan of Christian Goan origin, and Uma Fernandes, a Mauritian of Indian origin.
The 42-year-old mother of two served as the attorney-general in the Boris Johnson-led government.
She was the first Conservative MP to kick off her campaign to become the next Prime Minister and also among the first to be kicked out of the race.
After the failed attempt to replace Boris, she threw her weight behind Liz Truss candidacy, insisting she will “stop illegal migration across the Channel” and deliver “Brexit opportunities”. Her appointment to UK Cabinet has once again put Kenya on the global map for good reasons after the historic win of Barack Obama in 2008 as the President of the United States of America.
Additionally, Ms Braverman’s role means that the Kenyan connection with Britain will keep expanding.
When she first arrived in Parliament in 2015, her maiden speech was loaded with the issue of immigration as she recalled how her father fled tensions in Kenya to start a new life in the UK. She has served as MP for Fareham in Hampshire since 2015. She studied law at the University of Cambridge, before gaining a master’s at the Sorbonne in Paris.
