Protest note: What Kibaki told Obama

Relations between Kenya and America appeared to take a dramatic twist on Saturday night after President Kibaki wrote a protest note to President Obama over recent warnings issued to Kenyan officials whom the US accuses of blocking reforms.

President Kibaki accused the American Government of breaching protocol and expressed “displeasure and concern” about the action. US authorities remained tight lipped over the letter with Ambassador Michael Ranneberger telling the Sunday Nation he would not respond and that a reply would come from Washington.

President Kibaki’s unexpected decision to publicly take on Mr Obama could reopen fresh divisions within the grand coalition government because the letter appeared to contradict Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s position on the matter.

Mr Odinga told an audience at Harvard University on Thursday that the US was “totally entitled” to take action it deems appropriate against Kenyan officials. Mr Ranneberger had earlier announced that the State Department had written letters to 15 Kenyan government officials who it accused of blocking reforms or propagating the use of violence to achieve political goals.

The letters are said to have warned the officials that they could be banned from travelling to the US if they persisted in standing in the way of institutional changes recommended under the National Accord brokered by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Among those said to have received the letters are Cabinet ministers Mutula Kilonzo, Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto, Franklin Bett, George Saitoti and John Michuki. On Saturday evening, a State House official said President Kibaki took the unusual step to write a “polite and candid note” to President Obama because he felt that the warning letters to government officials “personalised the issue of reforms yet it is a question of changing institutions rather than individuals”.

But experts in international relations dismissed the view by State House that the US letters contravened the Geneva Convention, which dictates how states should relate to each other. “The Americans are merely stating they may not allow certain individuals into their country, which is their prerogative,” said University of Nairobi political science lecturer Joshua Kivuva.

“Besides, Kenya’s claim to sovereignty has been undermined by the fact that the government could not provide security to citizens during post-election violence and now cannot feed more than 10 million Kenyans.” Another lecturer, Dr Adams Oloo cautioned that it would be unwise for Kenyan officials to ignore Mr Obama’s counsel.

“The US is the world’s sole superpower and it has helped Kenya in certain ways such as facilitating the peace talks following the post-election violence and helping Kenya start the journey to recovery by allowing it to host the Agoa (African Growth and Opportunity Act) conference. It would be foolish of Kenyans to believe that the US cannot wield a big stick in addition to handing out carrots.”

The US and Kenya have traditionally had warm relations with Nairobi hosting the second biggest embassy in Africa outside Cairo. Kenya also receives more than $100 million in aid from the US annually while thousands of Kenyan students study in American universities.

The last time Kenya-US ties were severely strained was in the early 1990s when the then ambassador to Kenya Smith Hempstone and President George Bush senior vigorously advocated for the introduction of multi-party politics in the country.

Then President Daniel arap Moi consistently railed against the US in speeches at public rallies but there was no recorded protest note issued to Washington at the time. The election of Mr Obama, whose father was Kenyan, was warmly welcomed by the Kibaki administration, which declared a public holiday to celebrate.

But Mr Obama has proved he will not be a soft touch because of his Kenyan roots and has strongly pushed for the implementation of reforms recommended as part of a deal which ended the violent crisis which followed the disputed 2007 presidential election.

In addition to Mr Ranneberger, the US has dispatched Undersecretary of State for African Affairs, Mr Johnnie Carson and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who have all borne the message that Kenyan officials must implement reforms which could avert a return to bloodshed.

On Saturday, Mr Ranneberger insisted that US-Kenya relations remained strong and would not be ruined by President Kibaki’s protest note. “We have a strong and good partnership and I see that continuing,” he said. In an earlier interview with the Sunday Nation, Prime Minister Odinga had said Kenya was being held to a higher standard by America than other nations.

“Standards sometimes are different. There’s one language spoken about Kenya and another about Saudi Arabia or Egypt,” he said. The Sunday Nation was not able to immediately receive the PM’s reaction to President Kibaki’s note to Washington although it is expected to inform public debate in the next few weeks with divisions in the Cabinet already emerging.

Speaking in Ugenya, Lands minister James Orengo said President Obama was right to push for reforms. “What President Barack Obama is seeking in ensuring that corruption is a thing of the past in Kenya is consistent with the stand of ODM on the matter,” he said.

But a source familiar with the thinking within State House, who asked not to be named owing to the sensitivity of the matter, said President Kibaki had acted because he wants President Obama to deal directly with him on any issues concerning Kenya rather than target ministers who are “public servants working for the President”.

“It is like writing to the State Department in the US calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq rather than addressing Obama himself,” the source said.

Mr Kibaki, the source added, was also reacting to pressure from a number of ministers who have expressed disquiet over the activities of the US embassy in Nairobi, saying there was a feeling within government circles that President Obama “was not getting full information from the people briefing him”.

Some ministers are particularly unhappy with the conduct of Mr Ranneberger whom they accuse of blackmail. “The ambassador has been going round the country trying to win loyalty from various communities and has been made an elder of almost every tribe,” the source said.

He added that the American government’s stand is being viewed by some ministers as a ploy to stop people expressing different opinions on the sensitive reform issues.

– Additional reporting by Erick Oloo