Ranneberger wants to settle in Kenya

US ambassador Michael Ranneberger on Sunday expressed his willingness to settle in Kenya.

“You will never want to leave this country. I want to settle here,” Mr Ranneberger told worshippers when he joined labour officials at St Stephen’s Cathedral, Jogoo Road, in Nairobi, to celebrate the International Labour Day Thanksgiving Prayers.

Mr Ranneberger is not very popular among the political elite in Kenya. He recently survived a censure motion in Parliament for meddling with “domestic affairs  and behaving as if he is the president”.

If he chooses to remain, some sections of the public may back his decision because of the role he played in ending the 2008 post-election violence.

Mr Ranneberger also said that Kenya must accelerate political reforms to address underlying issues of leaders’ impunity, ethnic divisions and poverty to reduce the risk of trouble during next year’s elections.

“Discontent over Kenya’s culture of impunity, negative ethnicity and pervasive poverty spurred post-election violence almost four years ago and the problems persist,” the ambassador told reporters.

“Kenyan leaders should listen to their citizens’ desire for change and remove the obstacles to reforms.”