Former President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton are leading a delegation of donors to their foundation on a nine-day trip to Africa starting Wednesday. The highpoint is expected to be a gala conference and networking opportunity in Marrakesh, Morocco,
Politico reported.
The
Clinton Foundation describes itself as bringing together "businesses, governments, NGOs, and individuals" to promote public health, opportunities for women, economic improvement, and to address climate change.
The trip will have stopovers in Tanzania, Kenya, Liberia and Morocco, where donors will visit programs funded by the foundation. The finale in Marrakesh will be under the rubric of the
Clinton Global Initiative Middle East and Africa Meeting and include time with King Mohammed VI and his top officials. The country has donated heavily to the foundation, Politico reported.
Morocco, the only Arab country on the itinerary, is one of the more stable states in the Middle East though tensions simmer below the surface, according to
The Guardian.
The foundation has come under scrutiny over allegations that it is a channel for wealthy individuals and foreign governments to gain special access to the former president, Bill Clinton, and to his wife, a former secretary of state and current Democratic presidential candidate, according to
The Washington Post.
"The point of the trip is to see our work," said foundation spokesman Craig Minassian. "It has nothing to do with the campaign. It is really to see the work, highlight the work, make sure it is going well. That is the point of the trip," Politico reported.
Many participants in the foundation's entourage are past, present, or likely future contributors to the Hillary Clinton campaign. The foundation said it would voluntarily place some restrictions in taking
foreign monies during the 2016 presidential race and beyond should Hillary Clinton capture the White House.
Among the Clinton Foundation contributors taking part in the Africa trip are:
- Jay and Mindy Jacobs, who operate a chain of summer camps. Hillary Clinton has been paid to speak at events hosted by Jay Jacobs
- Lynn Forester de Rothschild, whose extended family has invested with Chelsea Clinton's husband, hedge fund manager Marc Mezvinsky
- Liz Robbins, a Washington lobbyist
- Marcy Simon, a marketing expert
- Beverly Dale, a campaign donor and, more recently, foundation contributor
- Hadeel Ibrahim, Clinton Foundation board member and head of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation
- Rumi Verjee, a Ugandan-born British businessman of Indian extraction
- Tanya Taylor, fashion designer and Clinton Foundation member
- Oleg Nodelman, a financier specializing in the biomedical industry
- Drew Houston and Sujay Jaswa of Dropbox
- Omar Saeed, a business executive whose company is headquartered in Pakistan
- John and Rebecca Mackay, Vancouver-based philanthropists.