The Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Kenyan Embassy in Washington, DC has advertised vacancies for the position(s) of Honorary Consuls for the cities of Minneapolis, Atlanta and Chicago, http://www.kenyaembassy.com/news01152015consuls.html . Like most jobs, the requirements for these positions are robust and speak for themselves, which is the least of my concerns. What I am most concerned about that the government has not stated or established is a credible need for and/or the purpose these jobs will serve. In my opinion, there is no rhyme or reason as to why the Kenyan government would establish honorary councils in the US at this time. These are not a priority and once again a miscalculation in Nairobi of what is good for the Diaspora. Honorary Consuls with titles without a purpose just is not the shrewdest way to placate the Kenyan Diaspora who desperately want to engage with their government.
If it were up to me or if I were advising President Uhuru Kenyatta and his administration, I would say, Mr. President, let's first understand what these Diaspora folks want and bring to the table. Then let's prioritize those issues by order of importance and utility to the country and the Diaspora. From the Diaspora side I can safely say that folks around the world want i) an implementable functional Diaspora Policy that has actual measurable policies they can rely on as opposed to an inferential abstract ii) folks want to participate in the political process by voting in the next general election cycle and beyond but it appears the IEBC is bent on denying them that opportunity again by running the clock, "the progressive clause" they call it and we want to know what is the government actually doing to ensure folks vote beyond the usual rhetoric, just to mention a few. The Honorary Consuls do not meet any of the Diaspora's needs much less add any value to them or Kenya itself.
Some in the jubilee administration have argued that the government wants to bring services close to the Diaspora but the question is, which services? I would say Kenyan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia that need more protection than folks in the US. Besides, Kenya has a fully staffed embassy in Washington DC, two consulates, one in New York, NY and the other in Los Angeles CA. I know what the embassy in DC does but what do the other two offices do? The embassy in DC and these consulates are already operating at excess capacity, meaning there is plenty more they can do and so before the government adds more redundancy in the diplomatic missions in the US in the form of "honorary consuls", maybe it should try and fully utilize the existing ones first. And once they operate at full capacity, then tell us what the real need and purpose is that would justify opening honorary consuls. That is how offices and staffing are generally established; hasn't met its burden on these parameters.
So whereas I am not necessarily saying no to the idea entirely, I think there are other key priorities Kenya should be addressing, this is just not one of them; it is just not ripe at this time and there is no compelling reason or justification that shows otherwise. I say let's not do things haphazardly but systematically instead. Let's start with by fixing the low hanging fruit, like fixing the disastrous Diaspora Website for example (http://diasporaportal.eurocom.co.ke/ ), or the Diaspora Policy by giving it some real value to the Diaspora and Kenya. I think if we do that, we can then move on to other value-adding areas of common interest and even then, there still MUST be a true need and purpose. So at this point in time, I think Kenya should shelve the "Honorary Consuls" idea indefinitely.
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