Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Amb Macharia Kamau describes Kenya’s Campaign for the UNSC non-permanent seat as a diplomatic roller-coaster replete with adrenaline and sharp twists and turns.
In an opinion editorial, PS Kamau notes that Kenya had offered its candidature for the non-permanent seat at the council for the 2013-14 and 2018-19 periods, but withdrew on both occasions in favour of Rwanda and Ethiopia, respectively.
“This was on the understanding that the 2021-22 term would go to Kenya,” Kamau said.
But when Kenya declared its candidature in 2017, Djibouti, surprisingly expressed interest in the same seat in January 2018.
For the next 19 months, Kenya engaged Djibouti in intense consultations to find the consensus that would best serve Africa’s interests, the former Kenya’s Permanent Representative in the UN said.
When it proved impossible to broker the standoff, a vote was called and Kenya garnered the two thirds majority in Addis Ababa, winning with 37 votes against Djibouti’s 13.
But moments after conceding defeat, Djibouti announced it was still in the race, contesting the endorsement of AU.
It is reported that Djibouti had already amassed some 100 MoUs with individual countries, taking advantage of bilateral ties to secure support for the vote.
“So when the AU endorsed Kenya, Djibouti knew it had 100 votes in the bag anyway. It would become Kenya’s headache throughout the campaign as some capitals openly told Kenya they would vote elsewhere,” the EastAfrican reported.
Kamau says Kenya had to reassemble its diplomatic resources and brace itself for an “energy-sapping campaign”.
It was made worse by the Covid-19, which disrupted the lobbying meetings Kenya had scheduled due to ban on travel and social distancing rules.
Kenya had to adapt fast with just under three months to the election in June.
“The novel coronavirus, paradoxically, became a key element of Kenya’s campaign strategy – our modus operandi was always to look for a silver lining. The government used its advantages as a member of the Bureau of AU Heads of State and Government, AU Peace and Security Council and President in Office of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) to engage global leaders on solutions to the pandemic,” Ambassador Kamau writes.
Kenya also leveraged on technology and the internet, for which she ranks highly in the continent and the globe.
It successfully held a virtual summit of OACPS chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta as well other Covid-19-related webinars at regional and global levels ahead of the vote.
This, Kamau says, raised the country’s profile and kept its  brand and agenda alive throughout the world.
“The past two weeks of the campaign were marked by outreach to all capitals around the world through letters as well as telephone and video calls. Social media messaging on different platforms was also triggered, targeting the voters,” he said.
He adds that two teams of specialist data technologists were brought into the Foreign Affairs ministry and another at an undisclosed location to facilitate intelligence.
Abroad, Kenya’s missions were activated to cause opinion editorials showcasing Kenya’s capacity to deliver on its 10-point agenda to be published in widely read dailies and periodicals in their host countries.
“In less than two weeks, articles on Kenya appeared in more than 40 countries and in more than 15 languages, including all the UN languages. These articles are estimated to have reached hundreds of thousands of people on all continents.”
“By the time a virtual reception for all the Permanent Representatives based in New York and addressed by President Uhuru Kenyatta took place on the eve of the June 17 elections, Kenya was confident of a win,” Kamau noted.
Managing the elections in New York is an alchemist, diplomatically idiosyncratic practice known to very few. But Kenya has the know-how and the experience, he concludes.
