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Policy Path - The Way It Was

Wednesday, 24 February 2010 00:00
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Four Decades of Live and Let Live
By DOMINIC ODIPO

Perhaps the easiest way to capture the evolution of Kenya’s foreign policy  and international diplomacy over the last 45 years is to try and isolate what it has not tried to do. This policy has not tried to convert the rest of the East African region to Nairobi’s political or economic ideology. It has not tried to expand this country’s geographical space at the expense of its neighbors. It has not tried to exploit or steal its neighbours’ natural resources using military force. And it has not deliberately tried to dominate the East African region either politically oreconomically. As a consequence, Kenya has had no international radio service daily spewing out political or economic propaganda acrossthe region. It has not deployed any of its military contingents in any neighboring countries to plunder foreign natural resources. And it has not unleashed special plenipotentiaries to plead the case for a Greater Kenya on the world stage. A close but detached analysis of Kenya’s foreign policy over the last 45 years leaves little doubt that this policy has, in the main, been both benign and well-meaning even if, on occasion, it has been both wrongheaded and rather shabbily executed. If any four words can capture the essence of Kenya’s foreign policy and international relations since independence in 1963, they would be these:Live and Let Live. Over the years, Nairobi has tried to undertake its core business without trampling on the interests of its neighbors or other states beyond its borders. When it has lost this path, it has generally done so in the selfish interest of a few of its leaders, not the nation as a whole.

LIBERATION

At its creation in 1963, Kenya’s foreign policy was dominated by three major factors: the struggle for the liberation of the African continent from colonialism, the East-West, capitalism- socialism divide, and the exigencies of economic development. The first four foreign or external affairs ministers — Peter Mbiyu Koinange, Joseph Murumbi, James Nyamweya and Argwings Kodhek — tried but with little success to balance the often conflicting interests in these spheres. While Koinange could easily push the pan-African agenda wholeheartedly in 1963, by 1968 matters had become more complicated for Kodhek. The Cold War was at its epogee and the country had to decide whether to hew to the East, West or play a more visible part in the emerging Non-Aligned Movement. As the 1970s dawned and the nation set its eyes on hosting the first UN agency outside Europe and North America, its diplomacy had to be tempered and crafted accordingly. To win the vote in the UN General Assembly, Nairobi’s diplomacy had to hew not only to the East and the West, but to the entire Non- Aligned Movement as well. A new minister was required and Dr. Njoroge Mungai clearly fitted the bill. Educated in the United States, he could easily reach out to the Non-Aligned Movement without antagonizing the country’s friends in the West. And as Presidential physician and relative, a pillar of Jomo Kenyatta’s inner circle, his actions and utterances were considered by those in the know to have the force of emanating directly from the Presidency.

When the UN General Assembly voted on December 15 1972 to locate the headquarters of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, it was a singular triumph for Kenya’s delicate but extremely effective diplomacy. With the final vote of 128 in favour, none against and with no abstentions, Kenya’s international diplomacy had borne the ripest of its fruits within only nine years of  Independence. Along the way, Nairobi had somehow beaten New Delhi and Tunis to host the UNEP headquarters and reversed the initial negative votes cast by both the United States and Britain. This diplomatic triumph was formally sealed on March 20, 1975, when the new foreign minister, Dr Munywa Waiyaki, formally signed the agreement basing UNEP in Nairobi. In the mid-1970s, with its newfound international stature, Kenya stepped haltingly into peacemaking diplomacy. The three warring principals of the Angolan civil war came to Nakuru to put their heads together under the chairmanship of President Kenyatta. It was a historic occasion broadcast all over theworld. Kenya had arrived on the international diplomatic stage and so had its foreign minister, Dr Waiyaki.

But it was Kenya ’s relations with apartheid South Africa that dominated the end of the 1970s. How was Kenya to relate to the apartheid regime; should it open known. Now enter the 1980s, perhaps the darkest chapter in the history of Kenya’s foreign and international relations. After the attempted coup d’etat of August, 1982, Nairobi turned increasingly inwards and the emphasis shifted to the preservation of President Daniel arap Moi’s regime. No foreign policies or initiatives which threatened the status quo could be entertained. Those who opposed the regime, whether local or foreign, were labelled enemies of the country, not just of the President or the State. During this period, only the most loyal of Moi’s cronies were given a chance to serve as foreign ministers and principal spokesmen. The list of the ministers who served in this period is long and revealing. It begins with Dr. Robert Ouko and ends with Major (Rtd) Marsden Madoka, and includes Elijah Mwangale, Dr Zachary Onyonka, Wilson Ndolo Ayah, Kalonzo Musyoka Dr. Bonaya Godana and Chris Obure. During this cultivate period the international diplomatic profile which Kenya had under Dr Waiyaki steadily disappeared.

BERLIN

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the entire mission of Kenya’s foreign policy had to change. East and West had now become one, the Soviet Union had disintergrated and China was emerging as the world’s fastest growing large economy. Kenyan diplomacy had therefore to shift from the traditionally political to the economic pillar and new ministers were required who could champion this policy. Accordingly, the last three foreign ministers, Chirau Ali Mwakwere, Raphael Tuju and the incumbent, Moses Wetang’ula, have served in this tradition as the big foreign policy issues of the last century appears to have disappeared. According to the ongoing formulation of Kenya’s foreign policy, the guiding principles include peaceful co-existence with neighbors and the resolution of conflicts by peaceful means. diplomatic relations with Pretoria or not? That was the question on which the Government appeared to be particularly divided. To Attorney General Charles Njonjo, an unalloyed Anglophile who had a Hastings Kamuzu Banda prejudice about African professionalism and  competence in all sectors, the answer was Yes, while to Dr Waiyaki it was a big and resounding No.

KENYATTA

And although Njonjo was the Presidential eminence grise and exercised the greatest single influence on Kenyatta, the old man’s nationalist and pan- African credentials and entire life’s work militated even against back channel diplomacy between Nairobi and Pretoria under his watch. “Over my dead body,” a confident Waiyaki declared, impressing many for standing up to the all-powerful Njonjo. Kenya could only talk with South Africa after he had left the ministry or passed on. Dr Waiyaki triumphed over Njonjo and left his mark as probably the greatest foreign minister the country has ever known. Now enter the 1980s, perhaps the darkest chapter in the history of Kenya’s foreign and international relations. After the attempted coup d’etat of August, 1982, Nairobi turned increasingly inwards and the emphasis shifted to the preservation of President Daniel arap Moi’s regime. No foreign policies or initiatives which threatened the status quo could be entertained. Those who opposed the regime, whether local or foreign, were lebelled enemies of the country, not just of the President or the State.

During this period, only the most loyal of Moi’s cronies were given a chance to serve as foreign ministers and principal spokesmen. The list of the ministers who served in this period is long and revealing. It begins with Dr. Robert Ouko and ends with Major (Rtd) Marsden Madoka, and includes Elijah Mwangale, Dr Zachary Onyonka, Wilson Ndolo Ayah, Kalonzo Musyoka Dr. Bonaya Godana and Chris Obure. During this cultivate period the international diplomatic profile which Kenya had under Dr Waiyaki steadily disappeared.

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