Diplomatic BS

Kenya has signed and ratified the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963. As an emerging power, as we believe we are, Kenya has diplomatic relations with many countries and international organisations, such as the United Nations and the World Bank Group, and these two conventions standardise the rules under which Kenya's diplomats will operate when representing Kenya abroad. It is Kenya's diplomats who are primarily involved in advancing Kenya's interests abroad, and the privileges and immunities extended to them under these conventions are crucial towards achieving Kenya's interests.

Every now and then, a person who is not a member of the diplomatic service of Kenya is called upon to perform a service for Kenya in its relations with a foreign power. That person is usually granted diplomatic status so that the service he is performing for Kenya in its relations with that foreign power are privileged - and protected. For the duration of his service to Kenya, that person is a diplomat and he will be protected by the provisions of the two Vienna conventions.

Which brings us to the demand by parliamentarians that their spouses be issued with diplomatic passports. What it implies is that parliamentarians are routinely issued with diplomatic passports. What it also implies is that parliamentarians routinely undertake diplomatic services for Kenya and, therefore, they require diplomatic privileges or immunities. This raises certain questions about Kenya's foreign policy and diplomatic service.

Kenyans remain in the dark about their government's foreign policy and it's diplomatic service. Every now and then we get to know of fissures in the service when a diplomat refuses to be recalled from her post or where she refuses to take a new posting in another country. The biggest scandal so far involving the diplomatic service is the sale of Kenya's embassy (or was it purchase) in  Tokyo, Japan. What we do not know is whether Kenya's parliamentarians (and their spouses) contribute anything to Kenya's foreign relations when they travel abroad.

There are risks to including Kenya's parliamentarians and their spouses in the diplomatic service of Kenya. In Kenya, parliamentarians and their spouses behave like demigods, expecting privileges for their elevated status. They usually attempt to impose their will on ordinary civil servants without a care for the consequences of their actions. They commandeer a disproportionate share of public resources for their comfort. If they are granted diplomatic status, they are likely to carry this egregious behaviour abroad, not only putting a strain on the facilities available to Kenya's diplomatic missions, but also the spectre of bulls-in-china-shops moments when these people invariably run afoul of the law in foreign countries. I shudder to imagine the image parliamentarians and their spouses cut when they visit Tel Aviv, Vienna, Copenhagen, Karachi, Abu Dhabi, Pretoria, Lima or L Paz, because it is almost certain to be exactly the same with the image they cut right here at hoe, which is nothing to write home about.

There would be a case to be made for diplomatic passports for parliamentarians' spouses if Kenya's foreign policy also encompassed diplomatic duties for spouses of parliamentarians. But an examination of the draft policy does not highlight this. The benefits of such an indulgence - for it is a indulgence - are far outweighed by the inherent risks of extending even more privileges to those people. Sadly, in an environment where the political classes always get what thy want, the national Executive is unlikely to push back and this parasitic class is set to add one more privilege to a very long list.