Missions not dumping grounds, they’re key to our foreign policy

The cry for help by athletics legend Henry Rono to get help to return home to Kenya from the US won’t be the first or the last. There was also that of Mr Timothy Majanja, a Kenyan who had migrated to Canada and the US over 40 years previously but ended up homeless. He eventually died in poverty in Atlanta.

Both cases were highlighted by the Kenyan media. The response to help for the gentlemen has mostly come from ordinary Kenyans and, in the case of Mr Rono, Athletics Kenya showed willingness to support him. None, if at all, came from Kenya’s consulate where the two men fell under.

The inertia in our foreign missions is the same. There has been hue and cry from diaspora Kenyans about lack of necessary services and support by our diplomats.

DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS

One of the most important roles diplomatic missions play is to offer consular assistance to its citizens in the diaspora. That does not begin and end with issuance of passports and other travel documents. They are also meant to be there for citizens in distress abroad.

The plight of Mr Rono and Mr Majanja is experienced by many Kenyans stuck abroad due to economic hardship. The diaspora community continues to remit to this country billions of shillings yearly.

This group has become our best export and their continued contribution to the national economy is commendable.

However, their financial success may not always be static and they could fall on hard times. Our missions need to be there for them during these hard times too.

But from the avalanche of complaints from Kenyans in the diaspora, there is very little support for them. Clearly, if those who contribute to the economy so much struggle to access services in our missions, I would imagine unsuccessful Kenyan immigrants abroad will be the last to get any help.

NEPOTISM

The missions have a duty of care to the citizens. A career diplomat would understand basic rules in diplomacy, including duty to the citizens. But they have been accused of incompetence due to their having been turned into dumping grounds for failures at home or conduits for nepotism and cronyism.

The dual nationality question that cropped up during the vetting of nominees for diplomatic posts highlighted the issue of loyalty. Although this is a valid point as far as nominees with dual citizenship are concerned, it is also indicative of the overall character of our foreign missions.

The loyalty of most of those appointed through political patronage is to the appointing individual rather than to Country.

Appointing non-career diplomats oftentimes just offers individuals and their families a long sightseeing holiday to a foreign country. They add no value to the diplomatic table as they lack the skills and tools required of a bona fide diplomat.

DIPLOMACY

Standard at our missions won’t be improved by training appointees in how to eat with a knife and fork. Diplomacy is not just about eating. Many non-career diplomats from Africa have walked into the haze of diplomatic immunity by breaching laws in their host countries. Taking immunity as cover for all sorts of misdemeanours, they engage in fraud, rape and slavery.

Some unqualified diplomats have even been unable to articulate basic diplomatic issues at press conferences, embarrassing their countries.

Our diplomats should have more roles to play for those in the diaspora than hosting nyama choma and beer festivals on Jamhuri Day. It is fine to make merry but the serious work required of the diplomats is duty to Kenyans. It is also a platform to be used to increase foreign investment.

Our missions are the face of Kenya and ought to be run by experienced career diplomats able to market the country effectively and articulate our foreign policy. They also need to be reduced in size to make them cost-effective. In this Digital Age, it makes no sense to have missions in just about any country.

Why not have key missions in countries that are strategically important to us in terms of investment and amalgamate the rest into lean consular offices?

FOREIGN POLICIES

Kenya’s success is, equally, dependent on an effective foreign mission that can articulate our foreign policies well with a qualified experienced career diplomat in charge. Dumping non-deserving people there shows lack of seriousness in our foreign policy and is akin to trying to fly without wings!

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The ongoing rush for e-passports should never have happened. It is causing unnecessary anxiety and panic among Kenyans. If the government were serious with their deadline, why did they not provide many more centres to speed it up?

The large crowds outside the few immigration centres pose A security threat too as far as terrorism goes and the queues make a field day for bribe-hungry immigration officers. It is sheer tortious. I hope somebody isn’t sleeping on the job, making Kenyans to pay for their incompetence!

Ms Guyo is a legal researcher. [email protected] Twitter: @kdiguyo