Kenyans working with US embassies and bureaus worldwide could be staring at job losses after the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled an overhaul of the US State Department on Tuesday.
As part of the Trump administration's "America First" mandate, the department is set to reduce its staff by 15 per cent as it closes and consolidates more than 100 offices and bureaus worldwide.
According to an internal memo, the plan–of which Congress has been informed–would eliminate 132 of the State Department's 734 bureaus and offices.
A further 137 offices will be transitioned to another location within the department to "increase efficiency," the Reuters and the Associated Press reported, citing a fact sheet it had obtained.
According to Rubio, the department in its current state is bloated and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission.
The departments will also undergo restructuring to reduce staff numbers, with the changes set to take effect from July 1 this year.
''In its current form, the Department is bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition. Over the past 15 years, the Department’s footprint has had unprecedented growth, and costs have soared. But far from seeing a return on investment, taxpayers have seen less effective and efficient diplomacy,'' a statement from the State Department read in part.
''This approach will empower the Department from the ground up, from the bureaus to the embassies. Region-specific functions will be consolidated to increase functionality, redundant offices will be removed, and non-statutory programs that are misaligned with America’s core national interests will cease to exist.''
However, it was not immediately clear how many people would be laid off as a result of the revamp, but some of the bureaus that are expected to be cut include the Office of Global Women's Issues.
The department's diversity and inclusion efforts, which have been cut government-wide since President Donald Trump took office in January, are also expected to be closed.
A "reimagined" office focused on foreign and humanitarian affairs is set to coordinate the remaining foreign assistance programs at the State Department, following the recent dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
If this plan moves forward, it could jeopardise the removal of the freeze on USAID, potentially affecting thousands of workers whose livelihoods depend on the program. Established on November 3, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy through Executive Order 10973, the program’s future could face further uncertainty.
