Spotlight on Kenyan envoy in US

• Ambassador in US criticised Obama’s claims of Kenya graft and ethnicity in 2006

One person who is finding himself in an awkward position over the election of Barack Obama as US president is Kenya’s ambassador in Washington, Mr Peter Oginga Ogego.

As Kenya’s key point man in the US, he is expected to spearhead closer ties between the two countries. However, he is now on the spot, having disparaged President-elect Obama in 2006.

Mr Ogego had dismissed Mr Obama’s claims that corruption and ethnicity had reached a crisis point, saying the senator’s remarks could injure relations between Kenya and the US.

Twisted the truth

The ambassador, who had not yet handed over his credentials to President Bush, went on to accuse the senator of having deliberately twisted the truth about the Government’s fight against corruption to gain publicity.

Government spokesman Alfred Mutua is another official who criticised Mr Obama’s remarks.

“You deliberately, without real cause or reason, other than what appears to be to seek cheap publicity and inconsequential populism, chose to publicly attack the democratically elected Government of Kenya, in total disregard for the requisite protocol and acceptable methods to address the issues you raised, what with programmed appointments to meet Cabinet ministers and even the Head of State, since your visit was official,” Mr Ogego said.

Some senior officials within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who spoke to the Saturday Nation on condition that they should not be named said the country was in an awkward and embarrassing position, having a representative who had an altercation with a person who is now the US President-elect.

One of them said Mr Ogego “should just rather recall himself” because he will not be representing Kenyan interests because he besmirched the president-elect, whom the country is celebrating his victory.

The official said some of the issues Mr Obama raised during a public lecture at the University of Nairobi on August 28, 2006, ended up vindicating him after the country witnessed violence after the December elections.

The official said the feeling within the ministry was that Mr Ogego should be removed from Washington since he was not a diplomat and that the country should appoint a senior person with good public relations to influence decisions which the US makes on Kenya.

The Saturday Nation also learnt that there were plans to recall Mr Ogego early in the year but the idea was shelved.

However, Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Thuita Mwangi said he did not think there was a problem with Mr Ogego serving in the US considering that he was accepted by the then government despite the criticism of Mr Obama.

It is a crisis

Mr Mwangi said: “I don’t think that (criticism) is an issue. He is properly accredited and he was accepted by the US government. Mr Obama had said Kenya suffered corruption and ethnicity-based politics and patronage, which needed to be addressed.

“Like many nations across this continent, where Kenya is failing is in its ability to create a government that is transparent and accountable; one that serves its people and is free from corruption ...

“But while corruption is a problem we all share, here in Kenya it is a crisis - a crisis that’s robbing an honest people of the opportunities,” he said then.