Kenya to Open a Second Embassy in Bern, Switzerland

 

During the Swiss President’s recent visit to Kenya, the Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta announced Kenya’s intent to open a new embassy in Bern, Switzerland.

Alain Berset, the current president of Switzerland was in Nairobi last month on a state visit. During his visit he and the Kenyan president spoke on various issues including the repatriation of stolen assets, corruption, healthcare and trade between the two countries.

Furthermore, an announcement was made that Kenyan would be opening a second embassy in the city of Bern.

Kenya already has another embassy in Geneva that was established in 1985.

Why Kenya has chosen to open a second Embassy in Switzerland or why the city of Bern was chosen, was not explained.

Just as Geneva, Bern is in the East and the two cities are barely 200 km apart. If you’re based in the North-West and need services from the Embassy, this new embassy will NOT be bringing the services any closer. Therefore service delivery for Kenyans is NOT the reason.

Bern is the capital city so the additional ambassador will be close to the who-is-who in business and politics, but is this a good enough reason for a second embassy in such a tiny country? 

So the question begs, why did Kenya decide to open an additional embassy? And is that reason legitimate enough to explain the extra expenses?