A giant global bank has this week received the blessings of President William Ruto to set up an office in Kenya, bringing into sharp focus the role of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the deal.
JP Morgan Chase & Co, whose headquarters is in the US, is in the Big Four club of banks with vast investments across the world.
In Africa, it operates in South Africa and Nigeria, with an office in Egypt. JP Morgan Chase & Co has in the past facilitated a number of Kenya’s Eurobond transactions.
“The bold decision taken by JP Morgan – one of the world’s leading financial services firms – to set up a regional office in Nairobi is a vote for Kenya’s emerging success in the global marketplace,” tweeted President Ruto on Tuesday.
Mr Blair has played a prominent role in JP Morgan since he joined the investment bank in 2008 as a part-time senior adviser reportedly earning $1 million (Sh126 million at current exchange rates) to offer “strategic advice and insight on global political issues and emerging trends.”
The former British Premier is said to be useful in using his connections and influence to open doors for the bank to set up operations or snap up deals across the planet, especially in countries with difficult political or regulatory environments.
He has also set up multiple organisations bearing his imprint, including the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change that operates in Kenya, and often publicises that he offers pro bono services to presidents through the Africa Governance Initiative “to help them deliver change programmes”.
Role under spotlight
But his role in the investment bank has often been put under the spotlight.
So, is the entry of JP Morgan a result of Mr Blair’s visit to State House barely a month after President Ruto’s swearing-in last year?
State House has remained tight-lipped on the specific nature of discussions held during Mr Blair’s visit and whether the entry of JP Morgan was discussed.
Enquiries by the Sunday Nation had not been responded to by the time of going to press.
Besides the photos and videos of Mr Blair and Dr Ruto alongside other leaders shared on social media, nothing else was said of the meeting.
The silence gets a flavour when you read the book Blair Inc: The Man Behind the Mask.
The book, published in 2015, is written by three British journalists – Francis Beckett, David Hencke and Nick Kochan – and reveals what it says are dealings between Mr Blair and some world leaders that raise eyebrows.
“Tony Blair is the first British Prime Minister…whose life after he left power has merited a book of its own. Most people pursue second careers to do more of what they enjoy with less stress. This is not the case with Tony Blair,” they wrote.
“He struts the world stage, travelling … constantly on and off private jets and in and out of splendid hotel suites.”
The authors quote James Wolfensohn, a former president of the World Bank, as saying of Mr Blair: “He has helped, especially, bankers and their clients who want to see the rulers or the leaders. It has allowed him to be very well compensated. That is fair game. That is what a lot of former politicians and leaders do.”
Long-running engagement
It is no secret that JP Morgan has a long-running engagement with Mr Blair.
He was made the bank’s senior adviser in January 2008, half a year after his June 27, 2007 resignation from the post of PM that he had held since 1997.
A document on the JP Morgan website says that by March 2022, Mr Blair was the chairman of its international council, though it does not explain what he does in the role.
The UK’s Standard newspaper quoted Mr Blair in 2012 as saying that his involvement with the bank was geared towards making the world a better place.
“I have always been interested in commerce and the impact of globalisation. Nowadays, the intersection between politics and the economy in different parts of the world, including the emerging markets, is very strong,” he said.
However, in the book, the authors say Mr Blair has often been used to make deals.
“Blair met (Muammar) Gaddafi in July 2009 when JP Morgan was trying to negotiate a deal between the Libyan Investment Authority and a company run by the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska,” the book says.
“Blair had denied he acted as an emissary in this matter. It’s clear that during Gaddafi’s reign, Blair courted the Libyan Investment Authority and the National Oil Corporation on behalf of British companies, and it is claimed that he performed the same service for JP Morgan clients.”
He came under criticism for his alleged involvement in helping JP Morgan to set up in Iraq – considering that he led Britain to join the US in invading the country and ousting President Saddam Hussein – and various activities in the Middle East.
It is instructive to note that there is nothing immediately questionable about what JP Morgan intends to do in Kenya.
Before Dr Ruto’s Tuesday tweet, he had held a State House meeting with JP Morgan’s public sector group vice chairman, Daniel Zelikow, alongside other officials.
The President posted that they “discussed the revision of development financing to be more responsive to climate change”.
“We welcome the firm’s expertise in environmental risks that will help Kenya to sustainably confront the climate change crisis,” he said.
On its website, JP Morgan – whose revenue for 2022 was $132.2 billion (Sh16.7 trillion) – says it delivers strategic advice and solutions that include capital raising, risk management and trade finance services to corporations, institutions and governments.
The November visit, seen as the prerequisite to the JP Morgan executives’ tour, takes a different angle when you consider that Mr Blair’s last publicised meeting with Dr Ruto’s predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, happened in September 2021.
If you turn the clock to 2015, you realise that Mr Kenyatta had appointed Mr Blair as his adviser. This was after a meeting between the two.
Through the Africa Governance Initiative, one of Mr Blair’s appendages, the former Labour Party leader said the engagement with Mr Kenyatta was “providing support to a Presidential Delivery Unit”.
The unit was set up in 2015 and branded itself as the vanguard of the president’s Big Four agenda. It, however, did not live up to its billing.
Moving the clock ahead in 2018, there were reports of JP Morgan planning to enter Kenya.
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