What Kenya wants from Obama’s man

• Nairobi will listen to lectures on graft, but is looking for US help on Somalia

US Vice-President Joe Biden flies into Nairobi on Monday amid unprecedented security and quiet despair in the corridors of power over what is seen as failure by the Obama administration “to be helpful” in finding a solution in Somalia.

Mr Biden will be in the country for two days as part of a three-nation visit, which includes attending the opening ceremony of the Fifa World Cup in South Africa on Friday.

He is the third top-ranking US official to visit Kenya since the election of Mr Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan.

Special message

Mr Biden is expected to deliver a special message from Mr Obama on reforms and the constitution review.

Mr Obama used an interview with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation to say some supportive things about Kenya but also to put across what he believed should be fixed for Kenya to realise its potential: corruption, tribalism, and human freedoms.

But top Office of the President officials, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity, appeared exasperated by what they termed Washington’s “lack of political appetite” to help deal with an issue they see as equally dangerous to Kenya’s stability and future: Somalia.

The officials said they would like to see the Obama administration take “Somalia as a threat to regional and international peace” and to use it’s leverage in the Security Council to get the United Nations to be more engaged in fixing the lawless country.

Without a government for nearly 20 years, Somalia is overrun by clan and Islamist militias, some of them allied to al Qaeda, and have been used to launch attacks against US interests in the region.

Limousines

On Sunday, the US Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigations were deployed and armoured limousines flown in for Mr Biden’s use.

The US Vice-President is expected to meet President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende, and members of the Parliamentary Caucus on Reforms together with the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on reforms.

On Sunday, a member of the Parliamentary Caucus on Reforms, Mr Olago Aluoch, said his group was scheduled to meet Mr Biden on Tuesday and the constitution was top on the agenda of the meeting.

“The most likely message that Mr Biden is bearing from President Obama is just to reiterate the issues of reforms and constitution review and how they are important to Kenyans,” said Prof Amukowa Anangwe, a political scientist.

During the interview in Washington with KBC, President Obama spoke of his wish to see a more prosperous Kenya. He urged Kenyans to “seize the moment” offered by the referendum to put the post-election violence behind them.

The US President sent the strongest indication yet that he wanted to see Kenya’s constitution review process come to a successful conclusion and announced plans to visit the country before his term ends.

But he clarified that the US was not pushing for the Yes vote at the referendum, slated for August 4.

President Obama said the decision to vote Yes or No at the referendum was up to Kenyans themselves.