 Emmerson Mnangagwa |
Zimbabwe, which is reeling from economic sanctions imposed by the US and its allies, has turned to Ballard Partners for strategic consulting and DC advocacy work.
The Trump administration on March 6 extended sanctions, which were imposed in 2003, against more than 100 Zimbabwe officials and institutions, for another year.
Those sanctioned for human rights abuses include former Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe and current president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Zimbabwe’s government called the extension of US sanctions a “travesty of justice against the Zimbabwean people.”
Brian Ballard, former head of Florida’s Trump Victory fundraising group, is lobbying on behalf of Zimbabwe’s minister of foreign affairs.
According to his firm's contract, Zimbabwe lacks access to international financial institutions and is under great diplomatic pressure from western nations.
Ballard’s job is to “encourage a re-examination of Zimbabwe from the State Dept. with a view of establishing the best possible bilateral relationship with the US and facilitating the restoration of Zimbabwe’s membership in the good standing with the community of nations.”
The Zimbabwe contract is worth $1M for two years.
Since Trump’s election, Tallahassee-based Ballard has picked up business from Qatar, Turkish Bank Turkiye Halk Bankasi, Dominican Republic, Maldives, Mali, General Motors, Uber, Democratic Republic of Congo, Democratic Party of Albania and Nigeria.
Former Georgia Republican Congressman Tom Graves is representing the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, positioning the country as a reliable partner with the US.
Bridges Partners is running an influencer campaign on behalf of Israel to promote the cultural interchange between it and the US.
San Diego’s Show Faith by Works is spreading pro-Israel messaging to Christian groups in the western US on behalf of the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
KNP Communications has lined up a contract to provide media training to members of Canada’s US embassy.
The firm of Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale has a four-month $6M agreement for strategic communications and media services in support of Havas Media’s engagement by Israel to develop a nationwide campaign in the US to combat antisemitism.
