Economy

Kinyua steps into Amina, Adan fight for control of trade docket

kinyua

Mr Joseph Kinyua, Head of Public Service. FILE PHOTO | NMG

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s chief of staff, Joseph Kinyua, has stepped in to try to resolve a simmering row between Cabinet secretaries Amina Mohamed and Adan Mohamed over control of the international trade docket.

Mr Kinyua has written to the Foreign Affairs ministry rescinding an earlier transfer of functions related to economic cooperation and commercial diplomacy to the Ministry of Trade and Industrialisation.

The State House chief of staff had in May 2016, through an executive order, moved international trade to the Industrialisation and Trade ministry, causing friction between the two ministers.

At the centre of the tussle is a push by both Adan and Amina to take control of the Sh1 billion allocated for economic co-operation and commercial diplomacy, according to budget estimates tabled in the National Assembly.

“Through executive order No 1 of May 2016, the international trade function was transferred to the State Department of Trade but the funds that were previously meant for economic cooperation and commercial aspects related to Ministry of Foreign Affairs were erroneously transferred — including the two sub-programmes,” said Amina in budget submissions presented to the Defence and Foreign Relations committee last week.

“After the executive order, the chief of staff wrote to the ministry clarifying that functions relating to World Trade Organisation and UNCTAD be retained under the ministry,” said the Foreign Affairs secretary.

Amina’s docket was previously known as Foreign Affairs and International Trade but has since dropped the latter segment.

Following the May 2016 re-organisation, Adan’s ministry was renamed Industry, Trade and Cooperatives.

Amina now wants Parliament to allocate her the Sh1 billion to carry out the functions of international trade.

“Funding for economic co-operation and commercial diplomacy amounting to Sh1 billion is required,” the minister told MPs.

But a top government official said the WTO and UNCTAD were “one-off events” and not ministry functions that can consume the entire Sh1 billion.

Nairobi hosted the 10th WTO ministerial conference in December 2015 and thereafter in July 2016 hosted the UNCTAD conference with Amina as the key person.

“This is serious duplication. Trade is now under Adan’s ministry. What do they need the money for?” asked the bureaucrat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Foreign Affairs secretary Amina Mohamed (left) with WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo at a press conference on the sidelines of the WTO’s 10th ministerial conference in Nairobi in December 2015. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Confusion

The ensuing tiff has seen government bureaucrats unable to carry out their functions fully as it remains unclear where the international trade docket sits.

The confusion has put many senior Ministry of Trade officials such as the principal secretary (PS), Chris Kiptoo, in a tight corner, not knowing whether they belong to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Foreign Affairs.

Dr Kiptoo’s appointment letter designated him as Trade PS, leaving him in an awkward position.

This left the former Kenya country director at Trademark East Africa and other senior officials at the Trade Department at a crossroads they are yet to depart from.

Mr Kinyua’s executive order outlined Dr Kiptoo as Trade PS and not International Trade PS as President Kenyatta had announced.

Effectively, he was placed under Adan’s ministry to take charge of State Department of Trade.

The executive order outlines Trade PS duties as including “trade negotiations and advisory services” as well as “enforcement of international trade laws, regulations and agreements.”

It is on this basis that questions are being asked why the Foreign Affairs ministry is still clinging on the international trade docket and fighting for control of additional funds.

The Trade Department’s other functions, as outlined in Mr Kinyua’s letter, are formulating policy on trade, Buy Kenya initiative, retail and wholesale markets, business registration, export promotion, and fair trade practices.

It is also responsible for coordinating regional trade bodies and programmes such as Comesa and Agoa.

It is said that the Amina-Adan squabble has now taken a new political turn with each side digging in to access the Sh1 billion purse.

Amina belongs to Mr Kenyatta’s TNA camp while Adan owes his Cabinet nomination to Deputy President William Ruto’s URP wing of the ruling Jubilee coalition.

Signs that Adan had fully taken over the international trade docket became visible in September last year when he took charge of efforts to unlock talks on the Economic Partnerships Agreement (EPA) with the European Union.

He travelled to the EU parliament to seek concessions for Kenya after Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi refused to sign the EPA deal, threatening to lock Kenya out of the European market.

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