Secrets of Clinton’s private meetings

• In front of the cameras, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used diplomatic language. Behind closed doors, her message was tougher
• US to shame chaos suspects

The US Government will name and shame key perpetrators of Kenya's post-election violence and individuals involved in corruption.

It will also ban them from visiting the country, the Sunday Nation has learnt.

The declaration is part of an agreement reached between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during various private meetings with Kenya Government leaders and MPs during her three-day visit to the country.

The US further pushed for the total overhaul of the criminal justice system and the removal of four key public officials in what they view as the first crucial step to reform the institutions they head.

Parliamentary Accounts Committee chairman Bonny Khalwale, who attended one of the closed-door meetings with Mrs Clinton, said she was concerned about lack of reforms to help end impunity and promised to name, shame and ban the violence and corruption suspects from visiting the US.

“She promised to name and shame them as a demand for reforms. She also promised travel sanctions,” Dr Khalwale said. He said the US felt that if it used economic sanctions, only the poor would suffer.

Mrs Clinton, in her speeches and interviews, published by the State Department, said a local tribunal was preferable but The Hague option was inevitable if Kenyans did not move fast.

“The local approach is usually preferable because people feel that they are acting in a way that is commensurate with their values and their national interests. But what I’m hearing from people in Kenya is that no one thinks the local route will work, that they can’t get a special tribunal that is independent and able to stand up against impunity,” she said.

“If the people of Kenya and the Government cannot come up with a fair, acceptable approach to hold people accountable, then I believe you will see the referral to the ICC,” she said.

According to Dr Khalwale, Mrs Clinton was unhappy that the government still retained Attorney-General Amos Wako and Police Commissioner Hussein Ali in spite of rampant cases of extrajudicial killings.

Mr Wako and Major-General Ali, Mrs Clinton is said to have told three MPs who have been at forefront pushing for the formation of an opposition causus in Parliament, were not doing enough to address issues concerning their dockets.

Both Mr Wako and Gen Ali have rejected accusations that they have failed the institutions they head and ought to resign.

Mrs Clinton is further said to have called for reforms in the Judiciary headed by Chief Justice Evan Gicheru and the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission headed by Mr Justice (rtd) Aaron Ringera.

The four institutions headed by Mr Wako, Maj-Gen Ali, Mr Gicheru and Mr Ringera are key to fighting corruption, crime and ending impunity and have been in sharp focus over incompetence and inefficiency.

Dr Khalwale was in the company of Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo and Garsen’s Danson Mungatana when they met Mrs Clinton at the US embassy on Thursday in the presence of US official Johnnie Carson and ambassador Michael Ranneberger.

Although Gichugu MP Martha Karua had also been invited, she did not make it as she was attending a function in Mombasa.

In an interview with the Sunday Nation, Mr Kilonzo affirmed that the discussion centred on reforms in judiciary and police.

Mrs Clinton completed her three-day visit to the country on Thursday after attending the African Growth and Opportunity Act conference.