The fourteenth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD14) conference portends loads of soft power capital for Kenya. What therefore, are the levels of Kenya’s preparedness for the conclave? Kenya has successfully played host to large global events. There is room for benefit of doubt that the UNCTAD14 will run without major hiccups. But is Kenya prepared to leverage public diplomacy and soft power so as to tap the event for its image and reputation building opportunities?

At the very basic, soft power as seminally defined by Harvard University political scientist Joseph Nye, is the attraction of people in foreign lands. A number of theorists see soft power as a constituent part of public diplomacy, that is, the indirect influencing of citizens of foreign countries to like your country with an eye on tangible national goals. Kenya’s hosting of the thousands of international visitors during UNCTAD14 is evidence that the country possesses pull factors. It means that foreign nationals have been sufficiently influenced by what they perceive of Kenya, to come calling for the conference.

The issue is not so much that Kenya has soft power and public diplomacy capital as whether it has squeezed every ounce of reputation from the upcoming event. An abbreviated background is necessary in discussing the intangible soft power resources available for Kenya during UNCTAD14. A conference destination of note in Africa, the country has chalked up experience hosting big signature events. This is, in no small measure, thanks to the visionary lobbying in the early 1970s for the hosting of what has ultimately become the United Nations Office at Nairobi – the only one in the global south.

The completion of the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in 1973, relative peace and tranquility and world class natural attractions have all dovetailed with the United Nations regional headquarters status to make Kenya a magnate for the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE). This has contributed immensely to Kenya’s global soft power stature. Indeed, Nairobi is hosting the UNCATD quadrennial ministerial meeting for the second time, the first one having been held in 1976.

The upshot is that UNCTAD14 builds on the material and intellectual investment in Kenya’s soft power made over forty years ago. But gifted people count too. If a major element in a country’s soft power arsenal is its human resources, UNCTAD secretary general Mukhisa Kituyi is one such. Cerebrally eloquent, his chairmanship of the UNCTAD14 will boost Kenya’s standing in the comity of nations and serve an attractive function. More importantly, Kituyi’s bringing the conference to “home soil” speaks to the role global public ambassadors can play in positioning a country.

To understand the soft power capital that UNCTAD14 portends, one only needs to peek through the provisional programme. In a nutshell, the whole conference constitutes Kenya’s power of attractions. Certain aspects of the conference however stand out as promotional for Kenya. First, the host president, Uhuru Kenyatta has a bully pulpit to charm his fellow leaders and visitors at large. Second, key government agencies such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Industry and Trade and Cooperatives, have an opportunity to streamline “soft” strategies by hosting colleagues from other countries and existing and potential partners. Indeed, cabinet secretaries Amina Mohamed and Adan Mohammed as well as Dan Kaznungu (Mining), Charles Keter (energy and Petroleum) and Willy Bett (agriculture, livestock and fisheries) have been scheduled in the programme.

Instructively, UNCTAD14 is indeed a ministerial conference with ministers and/or senior officials from at least 22 countries coming from places as far apart as Vanuatu and Estonia, China and Peru, already listed in the programme. With a good chunk of the 194 UN-member states represented, there are innumerable possibilities on what the Kenyan ministers can achieve in furtherance of domestic and foreign goals with their colleagues if they have a conference “soft” strategy.

Second, as rule of thumb, all delegates count. But all delegates are not equal with attendance of prominent global personalities being a sought after endorsement for Kenya. In a recent interview with the Business Daily, Kituyi indicated that UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon will be joined by presidents from Ireland, Mongolia, Rwanda, Uganda, Chile and (possibly), the prime minister of Canada. If these leaders turn up, Kenya would have scored seven leaders in one fell swoop, whose Nairobi junkets would be channeled back home to their countries with positive implications for Kenya. In essence, President Kenyatta will be overseeing seven state visits with possibilities of geopolitical and bilateral benefits. The presence of top UN officials including two WTO directors general, Under Secretary for Landlocked Countries and Small Island Developing States, Gyan Chandra and UN special advisor for Africa, Maged Abdelaziz lend further high-level approval for Kenya.

The large cast of international organizations and global brands in attendance will further boost Kenya’s standing. UNCTAD14’s magnitude reaches the threshold of a global event thus attracting global media. But more importantly, many of the international organizations and companies in attendance have their own internal and external corporate communications mechanisms with fortuitous benefits for Kenya. Notably, organizations such as the International Trade Centre, the International Road Transport Union and the ACP Group of States, to name but three, will be represented at the highest level, an endorsement for the event likely to be widely communicated with Kenya as the context. Equally the presence of multinational brands such as Bloomberg LP, General Electric and China’s Alibaba, among many others will lend gravitas to Kenya’s name. One sees lots of networking for instance at an event designated as a matchmaking breakfast and in other social asides with benefits for Kenyan companies in attendance such as DHL and Chandaria Group, to name two.

A downside in these respects is that of the academics attending the conference, only Strathmore Business School and no other university or think tank is represented in terms of panelists or speakers – according to the provisional programme.

So much for the reputational capital that is Kenya’s for the taking. Obviously, the Government has invested resources in the event. However, a quick online digging betrays many lost opportunities for wringing the event dry of its soft power potential. It doesn’t inspire confidence for instance that all the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website has is a link to the official UNCTAD conference website as does the website of the venue host, KICC. The Kenya Presidency website, is much better but just, with a stub of statement on the event. The two main soft power agencies in Kenya are the Brand Kenya Board and the Kenya Tourism Board. The latter’s website has nothing on UNCTAD14 while the former merely mentions the event as part of regurgitation of similar past events. Quite apart from the fact that these agencies are failing to seize an opportunity to grow Kenya’s soft power generally, they have also failed to market Kenya’s tourism attractions bang in the midst of the high season.

A quick comparison with South Africa can suggest means and ways and in which Kenyan entities can boost the country’s soft power during future events. For every international event,

the South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Tourism South Africa and Brand South Africa have targeted communication. It is an indication that South African soft power strategists meticulously plan for events that can boost the country’s image. And this is applies for many other nations that appreciate the power of a good name in a nation’s global political economy. Is it too late for Kenyan honchos to do a quick stop-gap study UNCTAD14 as a reputational event?

By Bob Wekesa,

Post Doctoral Fellow, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, Steering Committee Member, Chinese in Africa, Africans in China Research Network. job.wekesa@wits.ac.za