Sh3.6b US project to edge out old Kenyan leaders

The US embassy will push ahead with its activities among youth groups, even after President Kibaki expressed his objection, new secret American cables released by wikileaks website show.

America is spending Sh3.6 billion shillings on a youth project whose objective is to kick out existing leaders and replace them with a new lot.

A secret letter from US ambassador Michael Ranneberger to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton says the embassy is solidly behind youth groups, whose “ultimate objective is the emergence of alternative political leadership”.

The youth groups are supposed to end tribal politics, help in reconciling the various tribes and implementation of reforms.

They, he said, are “cooperating across ethnic lines” and “are focused on ending ethnic-based politics, promoting reconciliation, and implementation of reform.

The revelation –and the amount of money budgeted for the exercise — will trigger lots of questions on the actual intentions of the Obama administration.

The cables say that senior levels of the Coalition government had “sought to pressure us to curtail such activity. We pushed back firmly.”

The money allocated for the youth activities is equivalent to the annual budget for the ministry of Lands.

Opposed to America’s involvement

One of the cables names President Kibaki as the person who was opposed to America’s involvement with the youth (Read: Ruling elite ‘wary of youth meetings’).

Others named are Internal Security minister, George Saitoti, (former)Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula, Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi and head of civil service, Francis Muthaura.

Interestingly, some of the cables on the youth are also copied to the “cdr USAfricom” – the Africom commander based in Stuttgart, Germany.

They are also copied to ”CJTF” an acronym of the Combined Joint Task Force whose mandate is to check the emergence of extremist ideology within the Horn of Africa.

Africom is an American military command that was set up to protect American interests, citizens and assets in Africa. Its commander reports to the US Secretary of Defence.

When the Wikileaks cables were first released, the government spokesman, Alfred Mutua accused the US Embassy in Nairobi of attempting to overthrow the Kenya government through regime change. But was it?

Though the US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger denied the allegations, new cables show that the US has been organising and funding more than 60 separate youth groups across the country – whose main agenda is to create new leadership and press for reforms.

One of the resolutions reached by Kibaki-opposed US-backed Youth Forum was on the formation of a youth-led political party “whose ideologies are in sync with the youth... and to mobilise support for reform-minded youth leaders to join positions of leadership in order to change the country.”

The US also intends to set up its own youth-managed fund to support small village groupings, projects run by youth and youth serving organisations.

The youth groups will be used by the US government to push for reforms, or what it calls “domestically-driven pressure”. The groups are to also booster the pressure emanating from Washington.

In a Cable written to Johnny Carson, an assistant secretary at the State department, Mr Ranneberger laids bare the actual US intention:

“As part of our broad efforts to propel implementation of the reform agenda (to which the coalition government committed itself) we have been seeking to encourage peaceful domestic-driven pressure. A key element of this is expanded outreach to youth, who constitute two-thirds of the population.”

If successful, this will be the second time that the US will be involved in organising a new of leadership in the country.

In the 1960’s Washington was involved in the “airlift” of students to US universities, coordinated by Tom Mboya and Dr Julius Gikonyo Kiano, to ostensibly create a pool of pro-American leaders for independent Kenya. On return, most students took senior positions in the Jomo Kenyatta government.

The current efforts intend to empower grassroot groups, both financially and in organisation skills, and to politically empower them to push the reform agenda.

The US appears concerned that its strategic interests in the region would be in trouble if the Kenya collapses into chaos. In one of the cables, Mr Ranneberger glows on the success of his mission:

“The impact we (are) having was demonstrated by the fact that the most senior levels of the coalition government expressed concern to the Ambassador about the holding of the National Youth Forum and sought to pressure us to curtail such activity. As reported, we pushed back firmly.”

Last week, Mr Rannebeger was in Mombasa where he launched a Kenya Community Support Centre before travelling to Kaya Fungo in Kaloleni where he donated Sh800,000 from the Ambassador’s self-help grant.

It is this organisation of youths that is causing jitters in the political landscape because of the political implications it has on the old guards and leadership.

Last week, more than 10 youth groups moved to court to challenge President Kibaki’s re-appointment of Prof Njuguna Ndung’u as the Central Bank of Kenya governor till 2015 arguing that the appointment was against the spirit of Article 10 of the Constitution. (Read: New term for CBK boss challenged in court)

It is not clear whether any of these youth groups are the one’s supported by the US Embassy but the cables say that by “empowering youth to participate in the political process responsibly and empowering them economically will contribute to future democratic stability.”

The program is funded by USAID and christened “Yes Youth Can”.

The secret cable’s indicate that the program is a response to the 2008 post-election violence and will focus on those areas that were most affected.

As part of the overall initiative, the US Embassy in Nairobi funded the November 2009 National Youth Summit.

One of the cable’s say that during the summit Mr Ranneberger “called on the future leaders in the audience to advocate peacefully for key Agenda 4 reforms leading up to the 2012 elections, particularly those related to the constitution, the judiciary, and combating corruption.”

The USAID had in November 2009 carried a study which concluded that the Kenyan youth had “lost trust” in the current leadership and the political and social institutions, ”but that they stand ready to create a new cadre of leaders amongst themselves.”