Kenya Hires US PR Company for Sh64 Million to Boost Its Sway in Washington

The Kenyan government has reportedly hired an American public relations company to boost its sway in Washington.

Citing documents filed with the US Justice Department, Politico reports that the one-year contract with Rational 360 is worth $600,000 (Sh64.5 million).

The move comes after the Biden administration announced it will review its predecessor’s negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) with Kenya to ensure a potential pact aligns with President Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda. 

Rational 360 boasts of employees who previously worked in former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama’s administrations.

They include Patrick Dorton, special assistant to President Clinton, John Lockhart, former Press Secretary in the same administration, and Christine Koronides, former Chief of Staff to Director of National Economic Council under Obama.

The team will assist Kenya’s ambassador to the US in making inroads with government and non-government officials and general PR, according to their filing. 

Former United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD) secretary-general Mukhisa Kituyi criticized the move, terming it as a “totally unnecessary and unusually extravagant waste of scarce public resources.”

“This is a totally unnecessary and unusually extravagant waste of scarce public resources for chores which are the essential duty of an ambassador,” Kituyi, who is eyeing the presidency in 2022, said through Twitter.

The contract states that Rational 360 “will serve as government relations managers…which will consist generally of relationship building with government and non-governmental officials and communications counsel and management services.”