Kenya’s first female marine pilot Elizabeth Marami hits new career milestone
Ms Elizabeth Marami, Kenya’s first female marine pilot to be certified as a UK chief officer, at work.
Kenya’s first female marine pilot Elizabeth Marami has hit a new career milestone after passing Britain’s coast guard exam to be certified as a UK chief officer unlimited/master 3000GT.
Ms Marami took to social media to announce her new achievement.
“It was one of the best days of my life as I passed my UK coast guard orals exam! I achieved a goal I set out to attain 10 years ago but life short-changed me due to employment rejection onboard ships,” she said.
Kenya Maritime Authority acting director-general John Omingo congratulated Ms Marami, saying being certified as a UK chief officer unlimited/master 3000GT means she can now serve onboard a cruise ship.
“It is like the second in command onboard. If the ship is 3000GT, she can command it, she can serve as the captain,” said Mr Omingo in an interview with Nation.
He said Ms Marami is the first Kenyan woman to attain the certification.
“We have made strides as a country, we now have a certificated Kenyan woman chief officer. This is a good achievement, she has opened the doors for other women to work in cruise ships, we now have others emulating her,” he said.
Certificate of competency
He noted that more women are now getting into the maritime sector because of Ms Marami’s success .
“We have other women who have also received a certificate of competency from KMA. She has been an inspiration to women who want to venture into the maritime sector and others who are seeking progression,” said the maritime expert.
Ms Marami had to travel to the UK to get the certification.
“Late 2019, I got my first posting that counted my sea service and it became my life goal — to get the sea service, short holidays and long days at sea and eventually clocked the number end of 2021. I signed off and went straight to school,” she said.
She described the process as “brutal”.
“This is for all the Kenyan girls who were inspired to join the profession after hearing my story. You kept me going. This is your win. We may be late to the party as Kenyan female seafarers but the world had better be ready for one heck of a show,” she said.
Kenyans took to social media to congratulate her.
Speaking to Nation regrading Ms Marami’s career milestone, maritime expert Andrew Mwangura urged the government to do more to help the sector.
He said Ms Marami had opened doors for other women to work in the sector.
“Imagine someone going outside the country for the certification. Kenya does not issue a certificate of competence (CoC) because we lack an institution certified to offer it. Kenya does not even offer sea time,” said Mr Mwangura.
Citing Tanzania which offers sea time, Mr Mwangura urged the government to enter into an agreement with international vessels that make regular calls at the port of Mombasa to offer sea time to Kenyans studying in the sector.
400 Kenyans
Currently, more than 400 Kenyans who have studied maritime are languishing due to lack of sea time.
“Kenya should buy a traineeship vessel which costs Sh40 million. We need a seafarers’ department at KMA and setting up of a merchant training board consisting of representatives from merchant training institutions, the government, seafarers’ organisations and ship owners,” he said.
He noted that during the colonial period, Mombasa Polytechnic, now Technical University of Mombasa, was renowned for its maritime training.
“Tanzanians and other African countries used to come to Mombasa to train in the maritime sector. President William Ruto promised to revive the maritime sector. We now have the Ministry of Blue Economy, and I hope they start implementing such projects,” he said.
In 2021, Kenyans celebrated Ms Marami after an American cruise shipping company based in Miami, Florida, promoted her to first officer.
She received her promotion while working with Celebrity Edge, a ship operated by Celebrity Cruises.
A first officer is tasked with keeping tabs on what happens on the ship and reports directly to the captain.
