US envoy: Act now to avert chaos

As he vacates the scene in a matter of days, US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger remains hopeful about the country’s future, but weary of the huge challenges ahead.

Top on his mind is the likelihood of violence in next year’s General Election.

In his exit interview with the Sunday Nation, Mr Ranneberger, who has been ambassador to Kenya since July 31, 2006, says the danger of witnessing violence again during next year’s elections is very real.

However, he expressed confidence that leaders would take any intelligence hinting at that eventuality seriously and act fast. He said that although many others share his opinion, violence could still be avoided.

He said the government needs to deal with the root cause of the violence by pushing for full implementation of the Constitution.

Key among the issues that need to be addressed are the culture of impunity, negative ethnicity, poverty as well as youth unemployment. And it can be done, he said.

“It is unfortunate that the reform agenda has not gone on a faster pace. The two principals and Parliament must take responsibility for this. Of course there has been some progress in electoral and police reforms which is positive,” he said.

Little, however, has been done to promote real reconciliation, fight corruption and end impunity. We have already registered our concerns about delays in implementing the Constitution. According to him, these issues have to be dealt with in order to ensure prosperity of the nation.

“I have travelled across the country and Kenyans want change. There has been profound transformation in Kenya. The politicians might not fully appreciate it, but it is under way,” he said.

Mr Ranneberger cited a situation in the US in 2006 when most US polls showed that 75 per cent of Americans would not elect an African-American President in nearly 25 years.

‘‘Two years later, they elected President Barack Obama,’’ he said.

This, he added, is what convinced him about attitude change. He appealed to Kenyans to speak out now and politicians would have to listen because it is the people who have the power of the vote. That way, he said, a crisis would be averted.

In 2007, the US had programmes meant to ensure free and fair elections ‘‘but still there was manipulation’’. In 2012, he said, the US would put in place more safeguards.

“Institutions are as good as the people running them. We are pushing for good leadership. We will strengthen instant reporting of election results and careful screening of vote registers,” he said, hoping that this would reduce chances of manipulation.

But he warned that however good a system was, if the people in power were determined to interfere, they would.

“I call on Kenyans to speak out if they want a fair election. They should reject hate speech and ethnic manipulation now. They should tell their leaders that the fate of every community resides on the future of the other communities in Kenya,” he said.

Mr Ranneberger’s tenure stands out for the highest number of visa bans against ‘‘errant’’ politicians and prominent personalities. He told the Sunday Nation that the US would continue to use the weapon.

“The visa ban has proved an effective tool. When you take away that privilege, it means a lot to some of these people,” he said.

He told of an incident during the post- election violence in 2008 when he sent out letters to 15 prominent people threatening them with a visa ban if they did not stop supporting violence. That sent them panicking, he said.

“Within a day of receiving those letters, everybody was in a rush making phone calls, saying, ‘we have to talk, I am for peace, I am already promoting peace,’ said the ambassador.

He said that in one case, one of the 15 went to the envoy’s house and pleaded that his wife had threatened him with a divorce if he ended up being banned from travelling to the US.

“It has a big impact. It carries a lot of weight. If anything, we don’t want people supporting violence and corruption to come to our country,” said Mr Ranneberger.

Ambassador Ranneberger’s tenure has been marked by controversy. In the past, he has rubbed officialdom the wrong way like when he described Kenya as “a flourishing swamp of corruption”.

This was revealed in leaked cables released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks in November last year.

In one cable, Mr Ranneberger accused President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga of doing nothing to end impunity.

The two principals later hit back at the envoy. When asked yesterday about his relationship with the leaders, he described it as “excellent”.

“Both are very engaged in what is going on. They are smart and in many ways they want to do a lot for Kenya,” he said of President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga.

And how does Mr Ranneberger relate with Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, whom he described in one of the alleged cables as an “intellectual lightweight”?

“Well, Mr Kalonzo, at least from his reaction, seemed to be the most hurt. But so are many other people. Not all that is being said is completely accurate on these alleged leakages. Certainly, one thing that the Kenyan people know is the neutrality of the US Government.”

He also said that WikiLeaks proved people wrong on their guess first that he was pro-Odinga, then later pro-Kibaki. “They now know that America is not pro-any particular individual. All we want is a fair democratic process,” he said.

The envoy said WikiLeaks had not strained the relations between the two countries.

“In certain cases, there are individuals who may not be happy but people in government know this. The President and the Prime Minister understand that every ambassador reports home what happens in that country. Kenyan ambassadors do it as well and it is unfortunate that things sometimes come out like they did. But people should respect it as part of an envoy’s job,” Mr Ranneberger said.

Government Spokesman Dr Alfred Mutua had problems not with his message, but the tone.

“His messages were spot-on but I always took issue with the tone and manner in which he decided to deliver his message,” Dr Mutua said.

Prime Minister Odinga’s spokesman Salim Lone thinks the envoy is an exemplary friend of Kenya.

Mr Lone concedes, however, that there were genuine concerns about some of his early views but he later came to understand and love the country.