The Commonwealth Conversation

Conversation Event in Kenya

Title: Conversation Event in Kenya
Location: Nairobi
Date: 2009-10-27

On Tuesday 27th October 2009, a Commonwealth Conversation was held at the British Council in Nairobi. Thirty-four participants drawn from academia, civil society, youth groups and the media took part in a lively discussion on the Commonwealth.

A majority of participants felt that the association is still associated in the public mind with Britain and British colonialism. There was strong awareness of a number of Commonwealth activities such as the Commonwealth games and Commonwealth scholarship programmes. It was agreed, however, that more general awareness of the association and its activities should be raised among Commonwealth citizens. Participants questioned the Commonwealth’s track record on democratisation and rule of law issues, suggesting the association did not make its presence felt during Kenya’s recent post-election crisis, despite Commonwealth observers being stationed in the country.

Participants suggested the Commonwealth’s profile could be raised in Kenya by the opening of a Commonwealth office in Nairobi and the appointing of a global Commonwealth Goodwill Ambassador.

Rob Macaire, UK High Commissioner to Kenya, blogged his thoughts on the Conversation:

Last week we held the local edition of the global conversation on the Commonwealth that I mentioned in my last blog. Here are some notes that I took of the event;

Many people still associate the Commonwealth with Britain and believe that membership should allow free visa travel to the UK and other Commonwealth countries. There was quite a lot of awareness on specific areas of Commonwealth activity such as Commonwealth games, Scholarship programmes, media training and coordination on legal systems.

There was a feeling that the Commonwealth could do more in exerting pressure on rights issues and constitution building in Kenya. One of the audience commented that the Secretariat should be given more power to address issues to do with Member states.

An overwhelming conclusion was that more needed to be done to promote Commonwealth and raise awareness on the activities been carried out.

I urge you to look at the website of this global conversation which has thrown up some lively debate

Category : Conversation Events
Tags: Kenya
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