Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing'Oei on Sunday brushed off a response given by Ford Foundation after his letter requesting to know beneficiaries of the foundation's funding.
Sing'Oei speaking in an interview with Citizen TV lamented that the foundation was required to write a formal letter not post it on its site as they did earlier last week.
The PS emphasised that the Foundation should share details of all beneficiaries of their funding amounting to approximately Ksh800 million. He noted that in the past two months, Ksh200 million was sent to 16 organisations.
"We have seen protests in Kenya and we are saying these protests are powered by young people but they are also powered very strongly and aggressively by these civil society organisations," he remarked.
Sing'Oei noted that the foundation should explain the projects they are funding in Kenya to clear the air on whether they were sponsoring the ongoing demonstrations in the country.
The PS added that posting on the site did not provide information on the accounts of the organisations or the nature of the projects sponsored. Also, the foundation was asked to explain whether they were following up on the projects to ensure they were not in violation of the law.
"What the letter seeks to ask is to Ford Foundation really for information you know they should give us an idea of what these projects exactly are," he stated.
Sing'Oei added that under US law, the Ford Foundation and its money are not supposed to be deployed to carry out lobbying activities within the US or any third-world countries.
He however reiterated that Kenya still had a strong relationship with the foundation which has been in place for the last 60 years.
"We have had a corporation agreement since 1998 with the foundation. Ford Foundation is one of the unique foundations operating in Kenya or East Africa because it has a quasi-diplomatic character," he explained.
The PS disclosed that as per the corporation agreement, the foundation is mandated to respond to each request for information from the Kenyan government.
On Saturday, the foundation dismissed the allegations of funding protests in the country as alleged by President William Ruto earlier last week. The foundation added that all the information on the projects funded was public for anyone to access.
The foundation further noted that it was committed to Kenya's development as stated during Ruto's State visit to the US.
