15 foreign States protest visits by Kenyan VIPs

By Isaac Ongiri

Fifteen governments have raised concerns and protested over increased and uncoordinated travels by senior Kenyan Government officials to their countries.

They have also demanded that such trips be better coordinated for easy facilitation by host nations.

The trips made by some top Kenyan offi cials abroad have caused protocol breakdowns as they are executed without adequate notice to the hosts making Kenya a diplomatic nuisance abroad.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Minister Richard Onyonka confirmed that he has raised the concerns raised by 15 foreign countries with the National Assembly and other affected State organs engaging in accelerated

foreign trips.

“This matter is embarrassing our country. We have received complaints from Canada, Turkey, Poland, Germany, Britain, Russia and Netherlands among others who are requesting that official trips should be well coordinated to enable proper treatment of our officials when they are out there,” Onyonka said.

He said that some Kenyan embassies end up inconvenienced, as they do not have official vehicles to help transport the VIP guests from the airport to their hotels.

Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Thuita Mwangi also confirmed that the ministry has received complaints from some foreign missions.

“We can’t say the foreign governments are complaining or protesting. What they have done is to inform us to procedurally coordinate these trips in a much better manner,” Mwangi said.

The PS told The Standard that he has written to some of the affected institutions and ministries and added that his ministry is undertaking a study on how to handle the travel mess by government officials.

“I have also communicated this to the National Assembly. It is bad because some groups travel to one country and then two weeks later another group follows on the same mission to the same country to undertake the same study,” Mwangi said.

Investigation by The Standard established that two senior ministers have found themselves in embarrassing situations while on official foreign trips after one of them was arrested in Egypt last year as he loitered in the capital, Cairo.

state sponsorship

The other was busted as he attempted to channel State scholarships given by a South Eastern European country to a local NGO he is associated with.

Further, some Kenyan envoys have raised concerns over diversion of official bilateral engagements by top Government officials into personal political activities to engage with voters in the diaspora while traveling under State sponsorship.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and the National Assembly speaker Kenneth Marende top the list of high profile Kenyan travellers abroad. Most of the trips by the three are normally funded by the inviting organisations.

In the last month, the Prime Minister has been to the US and the UK  while the Vice President has toured the US. Marende only returned home on Sunday after an extensive five-day tour of Russia to attend the Fifth Nevsky International Ecological Congress in St Petersburg.

A diplomatic source explained that trips by the three are the most cumbersome to handle by the host nations as they enjoy privileged treatment equalling those normally bestowed on visiting Heads of States.

zThey are sometimes accorded the honour of inspecting guards of honour on arrival.

The PS admitted it was becoming difficult for the ministry to coordinate some of the international engagements by Kenyan officials on foreign trips abroad as they are funded by the initiating ministries.

“It is good that Kenyans are raising concerns over misuse of State resources by those making official trips for reasons that do not benefit the tax payer,” Mwangi said.

Last week, the Vice President was in Washington for a bilateral engagement but took advantage of the visit to campaign for his relaunched Wiper Democratic Party.

The move has prompted the Kenyan ambassador in the US, Elkana Odembo, to seek clarification from the ministry of Foreign Affairs on how to engage with officials who turn State-funded trips into personal political engagements.

private affairs

Three weeks ago the PM was forced to release his official government delegation that comprised Higher Education Minister Margaret Kamar, Assistant Minister Magerer Lang’at and Bonchari MP Charles Onyancha, as he embarked on a detour trip to Britain.  While in Britain the PM had a brief meeting with British Minister in charge of African Affairs Henry Bellingham before meeting the UK chapter of his campaign lobby group Friends of Raila (Fora).

“When the PM flew to the UK, we retired back home because his British engagement was a private affair,” said Magerer.

 

 


 

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