Uganda’s U.N. mission is paying a New York PR firm to promote Olara Otunnu’s bid for secretary-general

By Staff Reporter

WASHINGTON — Uganda’s mission to the United Nations has hired a New York public relations firm to promote Olara Otunnu’s campaign to become the next secretary-general, according to a foreign-agent registration filed with the Justice Department on Oct. 12.

Rubenstein Public Relations Inc. registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act with Otunnu as its foreign principal. It listed his address as Uganda House, the Uganda mission’s building on East 45th Street in Manhattan. The firm reported receiving $25,000 on Oct. 8 from the “Permanent Mission of the Republic of Uganda to the United Nations” as a “fees payment.”

The payment came the day after the Security Council’s fifth informal straw poll, in which Otunnu received three “encourage” votes and 12 “discourage” votes. The filing doesn’t say how much more the firm will be paid. An exhibit describing the agreement, which registrants must file, wasn’t yet available on the FARA website when the Inquisitor checked early Wednesday.

What the firm will do

The registration names the firm’s president and sole owner, Richard Rubenstein, and Steven Weiss as the people doing the work. It describes their job as providing “public relations advisory services” to Otunnu. The firm checked boxes saying its materials will include magazine and newspaper placements, press releases, radio or TV broadcasts and email. It said it had not disseminated any materials before registering.

Candidates for secretary-general are nominated by governments, which campaign for them largely through diplomatic outreach to the 15 Security Council members. The Council recommends a candidate to the General Assembly, and any of its five permanent members can block one.

A difficult race

Uganda formally nominated Otunnu on July 24, according to a joint letter from the presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council. On Aug. 9, President Yoweri Museveni presented him to Council members’ representatives at State House in Entebbe. He said former Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda would lead a delegation to their capitals. In the same meeting, Otunnu said several Council members had sought assurances about Uganda’s commitment to his candidacy “following previous unsuccessful attempts,” according to the president’s office.

Otunnu was Uganda’s U.N. ambassador in the early 1980s and later served as a U.N. under-secretary-general and special representative for children and armed conflict. In Uganda he has led the opposition Uganda People’s Congress and has run for president, as Museveni noted.

The straw polls haven’t gone his way. The fifth-poll tallies were reported by UG Diplomat, a Ugandan outlet, which said he had received five encourage votes in each of the third and fourth polls. In the sixth, on Oct. 16, the first in which ballots distinguished the permanent members, he got four encourage votes, 10 discourage votes and one “no opinion.” Three of the discourage votes came from permanent members.

Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan led that poll with nine encourage votes, PassBlue reported. Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett and Argentina’s Rafael Grossi each had eight. A candidate needs nine encourage votes and no veto from a permanent member. Former Senegalese President Macky Sall withdrew after the poll, and former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet withdrew in September. António Guterres’s term ends Dec. 31.

Foreign-agent filings

FARA requires people who act in the United States as agents of foreign principals, including as public relations counsel or publicity agents, to register with the Justice Department and disclose their activities and payments.

The Inquisitor sent requests for comment to the State Department, Olara Otunnu’s campaign, Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rubenstein Public Relations and Security Council Report on Wednesday afternoon, before publication. An email to Uganda’s U.N. mission, sent to the address listed on its website, was returned as undeliverable. This story will be updated with any responses.

Photo: Olara Otunnu meets Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis in Athens on Sept. 15, 2026. Greece is a member of the Security Council. Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Marios Ayfantis, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.