When foreign leaders visit, look beyond the speeches

“But the trip to Moscow was relatively relaxed. We had the 'deliverable' (that is, the breakthrough every President is expected to deliver during a major trip abroad) - the Moscow Treaty”

Excerpt from "No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington" by Condoleezza Rice

Narendra Modi, India's prime minster, who recently completed a four-nation tour of Africa, was briefly in Nairobi.

Before Mr Modi came to town, I learnt about the Modi app, which you could download online and which is a repository of all his communications.

It included a statement of intent for his visit to four African countries, with glimpses of his itinerary. He also invited people to comment and give suggestions on issues during his stops in Africa.

The Modi app had his pictures, tweets, speeches, press releases, as well as memorable events like him tracing Gandhi’s train trip in South Africa and addressing thousands of Kenyans of Indian origin at Kasarani stadium.

It also has the joint communiqués from his trip.

The "deliverables" of foreign trips are often contained in a communiqué, an official announcement made to the media.

Joint communiqués then become communication that two or more countries or parties sign off in agreement at the end of a meeting or event. Everything in a communiqué has to be agreed to by all parties, or it is left out completely.

DOUBLE TAXATION

The communiqués are then published and released by both sides that publish them, without any alteration, to their news media or other websites.

Communiqués are often vague, and full of warm platitudes but sometimes they have interesting details. In Africa, Modi visited Mozambique, South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, but joint communiqués were only issued after his visits to Kenya and Tanzania.

The one between India and Kenya highlighted an agreement to end double taxation, funding of $15 million to Kenya SME’s and $30 million to Kenya’s RIVATEX, visa exemptions for diplomatic passports and a grant of $1 million to renovate the Mahatma Gandhi Graduate Library at the University of Nairobi, among other declarations.

The India-Tanzania one highlighted the completion of an Indian-supported project for clean water to Dar es Salaam, and Lake Victoria water utilisation projects to support other towns, Tanzania’s support for India to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and the removal of visa fees for Tanzanian business travellers to India.

You could argue that the Modi app, with one million downloads in a country with over one billion people, is an unimportant tool. But over time, it becomes a repository and library for citizens and media to refer to. 

In Kenya the president has several prominent social media pages, and the government also has a MyGov website that is a repository for all government communications, from all ministries and departments, and even other arms like the Judiciary. But not all communiqués are posted there.

Communiqués help solve mysteries like the one in the newspapers last week week, where ministers gave contradicting statements about a proposed oil pipeline between Kenya and Ethiopia.

DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT HOLDERS

The communiqué signed between the two countries on June 23, 2016 noted that the governments committed to finalise an agreement on the development and operation of a product oil pipeline from Lamu Port to Addis Ababa by the end of 2016.

So look out for communiqués after every state visit. But communiqués are not just by presidents; they also appear after lower-level international meetings.  

When Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery met his South African counterpart in May, a communiqué was issued that noted that there would be visa exemptions for diplomatic passport holders, multiple-entry visas for frequent travellers and the removal of transit visas for travellers passing through South African airports.

With regards to Kenya and China, I’ve found only one communiqué signed back in 2006, between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. It was vague in details but it noted that the Kenyan government expressed its opposition to "Taiwan independence" in any form.  

Also there was a recent one between the Cabinet secretary for Land and the chairman of the National Land Commission that set out the new working relationship, and hopefully ended a long cold war between the two institutions.

Twitter: @bankelele