Kenya hits back over US visa ban

We will hit back mundu khu mundu (man to man), Kenya's Foreign Minister Moses Wetang’ula said on Wednesday over the US decision to impose a visa ban on a senior government official.

Addressing the Press at his office, Mr Wetang’ula described the US move, the second such action within four weeks as ''meddlesome’’.

He said: “It is unacceptable that an assistant minister walks into our country, makes a statement and walks out. The statement made by Johnnie Carson is totally out of order.’’

The minister said Kenya has options. “In diplomacy, we have the doctrine of reciprocity and we have our options’’, but he did not say which action the government planned to take against the US.

Last month President Kibaki wrote a letter to US president Barack Obama protesting over what he saw as US interference in his government after the US sent letters to 15 prominent Kenyans warning them of a visa ban if they were seen to be blocking the reform process in Kenya.

The letters were written by Mr Carson, who heads bureau of African Affairs at at US State Department. He is a former ambassador to Kenya.

Mr Wetang’ula said: “I have checked with all the 15 on the earlier list but none has received any communication from Johnnie Carson.’’

The minister said that Kenya cannot live in isolation from the rest of the world but “issues Kenyan must be driven by Kenyans.’’

He said it is Kenya that invited Kofi Annan amid post-election crisis and Kenyans have a right to give their views on the constitution-making process. “

He said: “I know of a minister who has not uttered a word on the reform process yet he is on the US ban list. At the same time there are Kenyans who talk everyday over reforms but they are not on the list.’’

The minister said US-Kenya ties cannot be based on the issuance of visas. He posed: “How many Kenyans apply for US visas and never receive any, paying a lot of money?’’

He added that the US as a UN host nation cannot deny entry to any official assigned to attend a UN event. This also applies to Kenya, Switzerland and Austria which host UN regional offices.

He gave the example of Fidel Castro who attended many meetings in New York amid the cold war and the more recent case of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attending the UN general assembly as a row rages over the country’s nuclear projects.