Trump's hand in relocation of UN bodies from New York to Nairobi

As an organisation committed to promoting peace and international order, the United Nations (UN), at 80 years, has lasted longer than any other previous attempts at global governance.These include the post-Napoleonic Concert of Europe and the post-Great War League of Nations.

In its initial stages, the UN owed its existence to two American power men from New York — Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Nelson A. Rockefeller. Over time, the UN went through systemic and manufactured hardships and trials.

Now, Roosevelt’s and Rockefeller’s dreams appear threatened by US president Donald Trump.

To ensure that powerful countries became members of the United Nations, Roosevelt gave each of the identified five countries a veto power in the Security Council.

He had also authorised, in 1940, Rockefeller to mount public relations campaigns in Latin America to cement US relations with Latin American countries and to monitor Axis activities in the region.

Rockefeller was successful in practicing public diplomacy by promoting opinion polling as an instrument of winning various publics and media campaigning.

Although Roosevelt died before seeing his dream come to life, his ideals were realised in May 1945 at San Francisco with the creation of the United Nations.

Rockefeller, grandson to John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil, was a believer in the Roosevelt ideals of world government. He was a quick thinker and doer of whatever came to mind. Having decided that the new world body should be headquartered in New York rather than anywhere else, he used money from John D Rockefeller Jr, his father, in 1946 to buy roughly 17 acres at Turtle Bay for the United Nations. That way, he made sure that New York would be the capital of the new world organisation.

The Rockefellers, it so happened, had land next to the future United Nations which became highly profited when real estate prices in Manhattan shot up due to the UN presence.

Thereafter, the Rockefeller fortunes tended to be tied to the world acceptance and growth of the UN operations.

Nelson, the politician, and his brother David, came to be identified with UN expansion of activities that did good to the world.

The third American to affect the UN is Donald Trump, very different from either Roosevelt or Rockefeller.

Trump likes confrontation and appears to be in a destructive crusade of all that went before him, especially post-World War II institutions that largely depend on the United States.

This has forced even Western European countries to start reassessing their dependent relations with the United States as to whether it still is an ‘ally’ or a potential ‘enemy’.

The first convict to be elected president, Trump has little time for agencies with international obligations such as NATO and the UN. He wants the UN to “get its act together” because it is not well run. While waiting for the UN to get its act together, Trump tries to force other countries to see things his way.   

Kenya is among those countries that would see things the Trump way partly President William Ruto has similar characteristics as Trump.

Each, big in business operations, think he is the greatest President that their country has had. Each is domineering, has had trouble with the law and tends to ignore constitutional expectations. Both are bombastically assertive, quick to dismiss those who disagree, and have big followings of “true believers.” Each believes he is on a ‘mission’ even as he tries to dismantle institutions.

Since Trump’s main concern is business, argues Rev John Calvin Kamau, he has little value for such international institutions as World Health Orgination, United States Agency for International Development or International Criminal Court .

He has disoriented North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, and has even paralysed Voice of America whose mandate is to promote the positive in America to the rest of the world. With his belief that Africa and Haiti are huge depositories of human waste, his government considered freezing funds for the Kenya-led Haiti security mission that former US President Joe Biden had started. This would put Kenya in a tight geopolitical corner.

Trump, in his first administration, from 2017 to 2021, as well as in the second, made it clear that he did not like the UN and its agencies which might explain the talk of diversifying UN headquarters from New York.

His reason, he argued, was because UN agencies acted contrary to US interests or the interests of its allies, especially Israel. He made his sentiments well known in February 2025, within three weeks of his second inauguration.

“Some of the UN agencies and bodies,” the White House asserted, “act contrary to the interests of the United States while attacking our allies and propagating anti-semetism.”

Subsequently, several UN institutions that were to be reviewed included UN Human Rights Council, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The review was to “include an analysis of any anti-semetism or anti-Israel sentiment within the organisation” after which the Secretary of State would withdraw US financial support for such UN agencies. The US is thus realigning itself out of world engagements. 

Kenya, despite its many shortcomings, appeared ready to help the UN diversify and make it the pivotal African country when it comes to global realignment.

Building diplomatic leverage was not easy but Nairobi had a record of reaching out beyond expectation.

This was the case in 1973 when Odero Jowi convinced the UN to establish its environment headquarters in Nairobi rather than anywhere else.

Being the only UN headquarters in the Global South, Nairobi learned to cater to global demands. It was thus ready when Trump made it clear that he wanted some UN agencies out of the US or probably closed.

The UN, seeking to diversify some functions in New York, turns to Nairobi as the viable alternative headquarters, which makes Kenyan officialdom very happy.

In return, Kenya expects two long term benefits — financial/material and geopolitical leverage in world affairs

The increased number of UN functionaries and numerous conferences would increase the flow of hard currencies and lower level jobs for Kenyans as chauffeurs, cooks and related house help, and messengers.

The planned 9,000 seat Assembly Hall as possible alternative venue for General Assembly meetings will be a welcome image booster for Kenya. This might become reality if Trump continues to generate hostility towards the United Nations and if he does not redirect his anti-Biden sentiments to Kenya.

Other cities in Africa were reportedly interested in hosting UN headquarters but they fell short of expectations, and they were not necessarily happy

Arusha was safer than the supposedly corrupt and violent Nairobi, so argued Rutashubanyuma Nestory of Tanzania Digest, but the UN prefers “systemic efficiency over localized safety metrics.”

The UN, Nestory added, “‘is decentralising key agencies and functions’ from high cost duty stations to Nairobi as part of strategic reform. However, the pick of crime infested city at expense of serene Arusha raise eyebrows. The decision reflects a pragmatic, if controversial, calculus where operational imperatives outweighed livability negatives.’”

The choice went to Nairobi, Nestory went on, because of Arusha’s “limited scalability, weaker diplomatic leverage, and incompatibility with UN values.”

Among the supposed Arusha incompatibilities with UN values was Kenya’s apparent willingness to accommodate doubtful policies, cultures, as well as Kenya’s seeming inability to protect national interests from foreign predators

The main fear, however, is that the cost of living in Nairobi might shoot up beyond what already overburdened Kenyans can afford.

A dark cloud, however, hovers over UN relocation to Nairobi. Trump does not like Biden and anything ‘Bidenish’ and Ruto is a Biden man.