Kenya reverses policy on communication with embassies

Foreign diplomats in Kenya will no longer communicate directly with specific government departments, upending a policy employed earlier this year to ease bureaucracy.

Prime Cabinet Musalia Mudavadi on Monday told an audience of diplomats in Nairobi that his office remains the focal point of interactions between Kenya and the outside world, and that future communication will have to pass through the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs.

“Going forth, all correspondences with the government shall be transmitted through the Office of the Chief of Protocol, State Department of Foreign Affairs.

“We believe that this review will allow for a more coherent approach to issues of mutual concern, and we seek your kind cooperation on this matter,” he said at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Nairobi.

Mudavadi was addressing the diplomats at a luncheon, his first with foreign envoys since he took over the docket of Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs last month.

Previously, under a directive by President William Ruto, diplomats representing foreign missions were allowed to directly contact departments of interest in what state house argued was to ease bureaucracy and delays.

But Mudavadi said this has since been reviewed to enhance coherence in government communication.

In fact, Kenya’s change of policy earlier this year had been a slight departure from the global tradition where a focal government department often coordinates correspondence with foreign entities, as per the Vienna Conventions of 1961 and 1963, the basic international treaties on diplomatic and consular privileges and conduct.

Nonetheless, Mudavadi said the government was engaging everyone from across the world to help support government programmes such as the Bottom-up policy.

Those engagements will target everyone in Africa, Asia and Australasia, Europe, the Americas and Latin America, and the Middle East, he argued.

“We believe in the power of partnerships,” he said promising to continue discussions with other countries on easing visa restrictions.

“We will keep having bilateral discussions with you about our nations' restrictive visa policies and laws, as well as any other administrative restrictions that could impede safer and more constructive travels.

“Kenya is persuaded that this is the best way to address difficult and challenging global issues.”

Mudavadi also defended Kenya’s acceptance to lead a police mission to Haiti, labelling it as a show of responsibility on global stage.

He said Kenya is prepared to deploy its police troops because it is traditional consistency.

“To be African is to have global responsibility…which is why we have consistently risen to the occasion whenever peace and security in our region and beyond is threatened,” he said in Nairobi.

According to Mudavadi, Kenya has always intervened in conflict situations because peace and security are crucial for any economic progress.

But Kenya’s deployment plans, now awaiting a parliamentary approval, have faced controversy.

A Kenyan lawyer, Ekuru Aukot challenged the deployment, earning a stay of any deployment on the basis that the move by Nairobi violates the constitution. He has also argued the mission does not serve Kenya’s direct interests but those of the main financier, the US.

The Kenyan Cabinet, however, went further to endorse the deployment of the Mission to be known as the Multinational Security Support mission (MSS) to Haiti which will include up to 1,000 Kenyan police personnel.

Mudavadi, however, told the diplomats the Mission will require financial and logistical support from other countries to succeed. At least 10 other countries have pledged to send personnel but the US is financing the Mission to the tune of $200 million with Canada supporting training of the troops.