Taking Kenya-Netherlands relations to another level

Maarten Brouwer, serving as the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Kenya since 2020, is deeply committed to economic advancement and promoting equality.

His insightful perspectives on Kenya-Netherlands relations shine through during a joint media interview, a kind-of farewell message to Kenyans.

With nearly four years of service in the embassy since September 2020, Ambassador Brouwer's tenure in Kenya concludes at the end of May 2024.

In a farewell message, Foreign Affairs PS Korir Sing'Oei praised him as an influential figure in fostering Kenya's growth.

“Ambassador Brouwer’s pivotal role has seen the elevation of Kenya-Netherlands relations in trade, green investments and programmes geared towards the attainment of sustainable development,” he said.

He extended best wishes to Brouwer for his future endeavors.

Below are some highlights from our conversation with Ambassador Brouwer.

How has your experience been as the Ambassador of Netherlands to Kenya?

It has been a positive experience, besides a bit of a weird start. I came here in September 2020. I would have loved to start months earlier, but Covid-19 times restricted my coming here.

When I finally came, which I was happy to have done, it was still weird because I couldn’t meet people physically and most of the meetings were behind a screen.

The rest has really been an interesting time. We had elections during the period.

Talking of which, what were your views on the 2022 elections?

The elections we had in the period brought it to my understanding that it is always election time in Kenya.

Before the elections and even the day after the elections, it starts again.

The 2022 elections showed that it was time to continue with the process of change that was already happening in the bilateral relationship between the Netherlands and Kenya, much more focusing on the economic relationship that we had.

I stand for the government. It was a proper election, and I would say that there is no government that can do it without its own people.

Tell us about the trade and development partnership between Kenya and the Netherlands.

It has always been about the programme we have as development partners.

I continuously said we are very big export markets for Kenya.

We are also a big foreign investor in your country.

We are actually the third export market in the world for you and in the flower sector, which is one of the blocs in our trade relationship; there are usually three and half to four million people who directly or indirectly depend on income earned in that sector.

So we pushed more or less the economic portfolio, and it has changed around.

How about the relationship in the political front?

In the political domain, we look at Kenya very much as a partner in the region and it opens doors for us to understand what is happening in the region.

We have put an effort in having a partner who is near, unlike us, to explain to us what is happening in the region and the development programmes being undertaken.

In summary, the change that has been done over the period touching on economic and political ties has been quite positive.

What has been your key achievement(s) in your period of service?

One is what happened in the refugee camps in my second year, when the announcement came of the closure of the Daadab and Kakuma camps.

At that moment, I asked my colleague ambassadors who were also have programmes in those camps to come to the table together with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and we discussed what we could do.

We identified the total of the contributions we make and added up programmes. We also analysed what Kenya had promised internationally in terms with how to deal with the refugee community.

A process of dialogue started with the government, and it decided based on the conversations and their own assessments that they needed to keep the camps open and go for another solution.

This solution is now often referred to as Shirika Plan. It looked at an integrated solution in which the host and refugee communities are approached equally.

That breakthrough was initiated with a couple of meetings and follow-ups.

Daadab was opened up and then we had another engagement on the refugee question, which was pivotal.

You talked of having at least two achievements.

Yes. A week ago, there was the UN Conference on Civil Society in Nairobi.

We had been working and as the Netherlands, where we have very strong civil societies, we had been feeling that the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) here in Kenya were a bit fragmented, had not joined up and their legal status was not very clear. So then, how could it be improved?

There was on the table the old Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) Act, which we thought of using it to plead with the government to gazette it, and that actually happened.

Would you then say it was your push that led to the gazetting of the PBO Act?

It was not done because we lobbied it ourselves with the government.

We just addressed it to the CSOs, they picked up the message, and they did a wonderful job.

On Friday, President William Ruto announced the gazetting of the PBO Act.

The government was ready for it. They did not do it because we asked.

The issue of the PBO Act was in the Kenya Kwanza manifesto. Yes, we were behind the scenes and part of the process, but the government did it.

Now the next step is in implementing the PBO Act.

Have you encountered challenges? How did you navigate them?

There has been one moment about a year ago in which one particularly vulnerable community, which is the LGBTQI, was under a lot of pressure.

There is a law in Kenya about how to regulate the community and during that period, the LGBTQ community was very much under threat, which went beyond the protection provided for them.

That was the moment we opened our doors, and we told them that we could talk about problems and dangers facing them.

We could not offer to protect them, but we could talk to people to be less vigilant around LGBTQI members and protect them.

That is something that was very difficult because we do not have a role to play. It is not something that we wanted to promote.

We were in it just for the protection and lives of people.

It was a difficult issue as the topic is difficult here in Kenya.

It was sad that when people came to us, we could only offer a listening ear.

Can you describe the political and economic ties between Kenya and Netherlands?

My predecessor had been working hard to get a higher economic profile.

It was quite a successful programme of development cooperation in the country, and he tried to use it to get more private sector in delivering of services through those programmes.

When I came in, we thought we could look at it in a more economical perspective in terms of, what do we earn from it and what does Kenya get?

We focused on growth of exports and imports in both nations and now at about 1.1 million-euro imports and exports.

Before we give it more strategic framework, I often talk about the gateway-to-gateway function.

In the sense that, Kenya opens a way to the East African Community, while the Netherlands is an important entry point into the European market, having airports and ports like the Port of Amsterdam.

That should be the basis of our economic framework. This is also for the economic advantage of Kenya in the end.

Therefore, we came up with a benchmarking initiative on what one country can borrow from the other.

We are on course in taking delivery of fresh produce to Europe by sea. We need to stabilise the place of Kenya in the global flower market.

We are setting up and working together as we are doing now, strengthening the value chain, delivery, collection chain at the facility in the Port of Mombasa, trying to get a direct shipping line, but we are not yet there.

The modern technique of sea travel is already being used in Colombia.

The initial use of sea transport has already reduced by 30 days, and we want to bring it to 20 days.

What else are you focusing on outside the flower business?

Besides flowers, we have had products like mangoes, green beans and avocadoes.

It is not just on agriculture as we are also an active player in renewable energy and the water sector in water management and protection of drinking water.

That is a combination between commercial activities but also more activities funded by cooperation.

What is in the future of Kenya and the Netherlands?

It will go more in strengthening further the economic relationship. We have an ambition to raise the economic value from 1.1 million to 1.5 million euros.

We are also working to build our relationship on a strong foundation of political partnership.

This includes the role of Kenya in the region. We will work with Kenya to understand the EAC more.

This is also true to Kenya. In the security domain, we will continue providing training for security teams.

What would you say on the concept of Ubuntu?

Ubuntu is a real African value about together where your identity is defined by your relationship to others.

It is very valuable, but it is also changing, and we need to talk on how sometimes, we lose the sight of Ubuntu a little bit.

It has changed in relation to age groups and gaps, and how they practise it.

We need to think sometimes on how that value of Ubuntu is changing with time but is always for the good.

The social fabric is important in the society. Without it, things like economic development will not pay off for the whole of the society.

Inequality is a signal of that. Personally, I think we should stay together longer and leave no one behind. Sometimes, losing sight of Ubuntu can have dire consequences as it was in Marsabit county, who have rediscovered Ubuntu.

If we do not care of the other, it will take care of itself and find its own way.

What about what is happening in the larger African community?

I see more conflict now in Africa than we have seen in the 40 years before.

Conflicts are not a good sign in both Africa and the European nations.

The world is not going through a nice period, and it is time we sat together and came up with solutions and started talking again and looking forward to Ubuntu.

What is your parting shot to Kenyans?

I encourage Kenyans to engage and not to turn around from what is happening in the country.

There should be close interaction between the government and private sector, all the while being aware and respectful of their separate responsibilities.

There is a lot of potential in Kenya. I think the future is bright so Kenya should make use of the capacity they have.