Kenya: Seeking to spruce up country's image in the United States - correcting battered image

May 16th, 2009

 

 

Nairobi (Kenya) - With its image battered by political rows, Kenya is walking the global market looking for an image maker who will also push its interest among foreign governments and international agencies. It has launched a search for a public relations and lobby firm to be based in the United States, where much of its work will be in Washington and New York.

Washington is the seat of the United States Government, now headed by Mr Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan and New York is the home of the United Nations, where key decisions in international diplomacy are determined.

The gravity of this image building assignment is underlined in an advertisement appearing in last week’s issue of The Economist, which stresses that applying firms must have more than five years’ experience “working for foreign governments in managing relations with key government and public institutions.”

Clearly, the Grand Coalition is convinced that its diplomatic representatives in the world’s most powerful nation need help in the delicate task of pushing for support, influencing decisions and defending the unsavoury aspect of its decisions and deeds back home.

Image is important for governments. It can make all the difference between economic growth and shrinkage and will easily determine the clout a head of State wields in the corridors of foreign ministries overseas, in this case the State Department, Congress, the Senate, the White House and the United Nations.

Kenya has two missions in the United States – one in Washington headed by the country’s ambassador to the United States and another in New York representing Nairobi at the United Nations. Have the two been found wanting or has the government simply decided to be more aggressive in the pursuit of its interests under an Obama government?

The man in charge of Washington, Mr Rateng’ Ogego, also oversees a consular office in Los Angeles, on the west coast. Mr Obama’s historic electoral victory left Mr Ogego, once a left-leaning political activist opposed to the dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi, in a rather awkward position.

As envoy, he had crossed swords with the fast-rising Illinois senator when Mr Obama visited Kenya and criticised the Kibaki government’s handling of corruption in the wake of the Anglo Leasing scandal and its governance record.

Mr Obama had complained in a speech at the University of Nairobi that corruption and tribalism had reached a crisis point, but Mr Ogego in a letter to the senator retorted that the attack was uninformed and in bad taste. There was obviously nothing personal.

Mr Ogego’s defenders will argue that he was simply pushing the line laid out by Nairobi, where Foreign minister Raphael Tuju had similarly issued a stinging attack on Mr Obama, questioning the senator’s understanding of Kenyan affairs.

In turning to an image maker, the Kenyan Government is taking a well-trodden path. A similar initiative by the Museveni government next door has stoked a furious controversy and attracted a parliamentary investigation.

Nigeria, whose nationals feature prominently but not exclusively, in drug arrests at foreign airports and in the infamous cash transfer swindles, last month launched a “brand Nigeria” campaign and set up a department within the Information Ministry to refurbish its foreign reputation. One of its tasks is to clean up the perception of Nigerians as con artists.

Under President Obama, lobby work is set to become harder. His government has pledged to reduce lobby influence in Washington and has barred White House aides who leave government from lobbying or working on issues they previously were involved in.

“We need to close the revolving door that lets lobbyists come into government freely and lets them use their time in public service to promote their own interests when they leave,” President Obama said.

The tender for consultancy was advertised just days before US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson flew to Nairobi to express Washington’s discomfort with turf wars in the Grand Coalition Government.

“We have seen and have felt, as far away as Washington, concerns about the stability of the coalition ... we are deeply concerned and worried whether the events of the last several weeks were again a prelude to a round of instability,” Mr Carson, himself a former US ambassador to Kenya, told reporters on the day he separately met President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

“The political tensions must not be allowed to turn into a political crisis, and a political crisis must not be allowed to turn into political violence,” he said. Kenya has been fighting hard to restore a badly battered image that started with the violence tied to the disputed December 2007 elections that left more than 1,000 dead and thousands of others displaced.

source.The Nation (Kenya)