• Hiring foreigners will only help in terms of the technical skills they bring, in addition to the assurance that they will not breach confidentiality
• The more general question is how much such foreign consultants need to understand Kenyan society, including politics, to be worth all the money it costs to hire them
For security reasons, it is easier for politicians to work with foreign experts since they are tight-lipped with regard to what they do and the information they handle. When you see a foreign company, especially those with a track record of working elsewhere and not leaking any information, it gives you confidence.
But the more general question is how much do such foreign consultants need to understand Kenyan society, including politics, to be worth all the money that it costs to hire them. I'm sure they are not cheap. Is it certain that politicians can’t find Kenyans who know at least that much and can be trusted? Take for instance Dr Adams Oloo — who was in Raila Odinga’s thinktank for the current campaign. If I was Oloo and ODM decides they are hiring some American or British experts and not employing me because they think the others will do a better job, I will feel insulted.
Do these foreigners even know Kiswahili to a point they can watch the news and really understand what people are saying? Let alone speaking any of the vernacular languages. I am not saying it is stupid to employ foreigners but I would think that it only helps in terms of the technical skills they bring, in addition to the assurance that they will not breach confidentiality.
If I were part of a campaign here as a Kenyan, I know how many talented, dedicated Kenyans there are in all fields — statistics, political science, advertising; also people that I know can be trusted. So, if someone comes to me saying they need to hire somebody from elsewhere, it would take a lot to convince me to agree to that. I am not saying I will not agree, but I would really want to see the argument of what additional value such a person will have.
If these foreign experts were working hand-in-glove with the local experts, they may have some experience elsewhere that perhaps the local experts have not thought about. I see no reason to ignore the use of such experts. But with the advent of the Internet and global communication, there is no need for them to come here. They can be sent data and they analyse the same and communicate findings. One advantage is that there is less anxiety about foreigners being ‘disloyal’.
When you are hiring one, you get guarantees that all they learn will be kept confidential. That might be hard locally given that the homegrown experts have their relatives and friends who they can easily talk than foreigners who are easy to keep in a bubble.
When you hire people from outside, it makes you look more convincing, but it is important to do the pros and cons of such a deal. There are many competent Kenyans who are professional and can observe confidentiality.
TOM WOLF - IPSOS Lead Researcher spoke to the Star