The Kenyan government has reportedly hired an American public relations company to boost its sway in Washington.
Citing documents filed with the US Justice Department, Politico reports that the one-year contract with Rational 360 is worth $600,000 (Sh64.5 million).
The move comes after the Biden administration announced it will review its predecessor’s negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) with Kenya to ensure a potential pact aligns with President Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda.
Rational 360 boasts of employees who previously worked in former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama’s administrations.
They include Patrick Dorton, special assistant to President Clinton, John Lockhart, former Press Secretary in the same administration, and Christine Koronides, former Chief of Staff to Director of National Economic Council under Obama.
The team will assist Kenya’s ambassador to the US in making inroads with government and non-government officials and general PR, according to their filing.
Former United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD) secretary-general Mukhisa Kituyi criticized the move, terming it as a “totally unnecessary and unusually extravagant waste of scarce public resources.”
“This is a totally unnecessary and unusually extravagant waste of scarce public resources for chores which are the essential duty of an ambassador,” Kituyi, who is eyeing the presidency in 2022, said through Twitter.
The contract states that Rational 360 “will serve as government relations managers…which will consist generally of relationship building with government and non-governmental officials and communications counsel and management services.”
The loan money from IMF, has…
The loan money from IMF, has been given back to the master!!
Inject the money in the…
Inject the money in the economy and do good for the Kenyan people. 64 million could feed and put a roof on so many Kenyans right now who are suffering. The current administration is all about looking good to the westerns.
The Kenyan government is…
The Kenyan government is embarrassing Kenyans living in America.
Uhuru must go.
Lobbyists????
Hii hapana.
If this is Kenyan news, why…
If this is Kenyan news, why is American flag displayed in top of Kenyan flag? Are we being colonized?
Is some supremacy being displayed here? Kenyans need to wake up to this small issues as they are being planted in our subconscious. This is a dirty propaganda!!
For such news you do not need both flag together.
America has gun culture; Kenya is a different culture ” Ee mungu nguvu yetu”!!
Asante ndugu. I didnt even…
Asante ndugu. I didnt even notice the subtle hint.
But alas, here we go again. I wonder whose idea was this? These lobbyists dont work for nations, but for govt administrations and people’s interests. This has been going on tangu MO1 days, during PEV and whenever ish hits the fan. In this case the idiots who signed the Trump treaty are seeing it fall apart in a few years.
Here is a free lesson to GOK amateurs: use your soft power (embassies, diaspora,tourists)to gain influence. If you going to screw them or have hidden dirty laundry deals to go undetected, ALWAYS hedge your bets and have lobbyists in BOTH democratic and Republican camps. That way they can either play offense or defense on your interests.
As stated by others here, why not dish out $3k to wananchi who live in DC who can definitely go out and influence for them? I suspect this lobbying is to protect certain specific companies,cartels who were to benefit in this deal vs the pan-african trade deal.
That bull of money can be…
That bull of money can be used to develop the infrastructure at home; I mean, roads, hospitals, social work services, and the country will speak for itself, doesn’t need a marketer…chema chajiuza, na kibaya cha….