Fruits of Kenya’s bold foreign policy are now visible

Kenya’s foreign policy has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last four years. For the first time since independence, Kenya now has a written foreign policy that boldly articulates a clear framework for her diplomatic engagements with the rest of the world.

The thrust of this new foreign policy unveiled by President Uhuru Kenyatta some time back is enhancing Kenya’s image and prestige globally while protecting, promoting and projecting her interests abroad. This entails consolidating and strengthening relations with other nations as well as multilateral bodies at regional, continental and international levels.

This new thinking is based on the realisation that we cannot afford to sit back as a country and wait for others to define our international geopolitical agenda. As a proud member of the community of nations, we must actively seek to influence international opinion and discourse about Kenya.

This explains Kenya’s renewed diplomatic vigour and unprecedented visibility in the global arena. The country has recently hosted several world leaders like Barack Obama (US), Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel), Narendra Modi (India), Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey), Park Geun-Hye (South Korea) and Xi Jingping (China). Pope Francis made a historic visit to Kenya in November last year.

Similarly, President Kenyatta has been hosted by other influential global leaders including Angela Merkel (Germany) and Francois Hollande (France). This is a clear demonstration that the world now views Kenya differently; that the global powers are willing to engage her directly on issues of mutual bilateral interest.

This high-level bilateral engagements have seen the country receive billions of dollars in trade and investment deals that will benefit generations of Kenyans into the future. For instance, the recent visit by Indian Prime Minister Modi yielded a raft of benefits including a pledge to construct a cancer centre at the Kenyatta National Hospital. Israeli PM Netanyahu pledged his country’s support for agriculture especially irrigation.

KEY PLAYER

As a student of international relations, I see the new foreign policy agenda as partly informed by the thinking that Kenya is key player in shaping Africa’s global agenda. This has seen the country play an increasingly active role in the continental integration agenda under the auspices of the East African Community and the African Union.

For close to four decades, Kenya’s foreign policy was influenced by the Cold War and the geopolitical dynamics of a bi-polar world ruled by the two superpowers - US and the Soviet Union. But with the fall of communism and emergence of a multi-polar global order, unfolding geopolitical realities necessitated a new foreign policy posture.

But Kenya’s foreign policy has since undergone transition owing to emerging trends like globalisation, regional integration and security threats. Pursuing Kenya’s socio-economic and political interests in this new dispensation called for a radical change. Accordingly, the Jubilee administration crafted a new foreign policy anchored on five pillars of diplomacy, namely, peace, economy, diaspora, environment and culture.

Under the economic pillar, for example, Kenya aspires to strengthen and consolidate its trade and investment links with the rest of the world. This entails deepening ties with our traditional partners while also exploring new trade partners so as to expand access of Kenyan products to global markets and increasing foreign investments. The economic pillar is also critical to increasing capital flows to Kenya and promoting the country as a favourite destination for foreign direct investment and tourism.

Our foreign policy is integrated into the national development agenda. We are already reaping the dividends of economic diplomacy.

An ever-changing geopolitical landscape calls for bold steps in engaging the rest of the world. This is the point the President’s detractors are missing when they say he travels too often. We stand to gain as a sovereign nation by “owning our narrative” and proactively pushing our international agenda. We have to reach out to our allies on mutually beneficial rules of engagement.

Rigathi Gachagua is a Nairobi businessman.