Why Kibaki’s letter to Obama may be RTS’ed

For a moment, imagine this scenario: if Philip Kisia, the City Town Clerk, issues notices to street families to shape up or ship out of the streets, and the head of the street families writes to President Kibaki complaining of disrespect by Kisia, will the President respond to the letter?

Now juxtapose Kisia, street families and President Kibaki with Johnnie Carson, Kenyan politicians and US President Barack Obama, respectively. This is the fate that will befall the letter that President Kibaki sent to Mr Obama.

Kenya, though a nearly failed state, is bound by international law and diplomatic protocol. Article 38 of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) states that sources of international law include international conventions and treaties, accepted general principles of international custom and law and universally accepted judicial rulings and writings.

Diplomatic relations are regulated by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and unwritten rules and customs of diplomatic protocol. Such custom that ambassadors live in big houses in posh areas, hold lavish parties and cultivate relations with the country’s elite are unwritten but followed by every country including failed Somalia, DRC and Zimbabwe.

By free will, Kenya submitted herself to international law respecting nation-states and diplomats, both written and unwritten. This free submission is called pacta sunt servanda in international law. If we feel as a country that Mr Carson’s letter slighted us, we had two options: have Foreign minister Moses Wetang’ula summon US ambassador Michael Ranneberger and make noise to him, or recall our ambassador in Washington. Writing a letter to Mr Obama wasn’t an option but an ill-directed outburst.

Kenya has no locus standi or moral authority to stand up to US prefecting over us. From independence, we elected to be a liberal democracy and an ally of US and Britain. By this choice, we accepted to be judged by the laws, values and standards applicable in Western civilisation. As the leader of Western civilisation, US has a de facto right to monitor and push us back to line. That Obama has Kenyan roots makes it even more imperative.

Lest Kenyans get immersed in juvenile patriotism, basic facts need be highlighted. The US is the world’s sole political, economic and military superpower and will be so for the next 50 years at the minimum. Kenya’s GDP is about $19 billion, equal to the net worth of Michael Bloomberg, New York’s mayor, whilst US’s is $14 trillion! Our economy is less than 0.1 per cent of US.

The IMF and the World Bank, the world’s multi-lateral finance and monetary institutions, are under the control of Washington and London. UN and its organs dance to Washington’s drum-beat. Standing up to Washington is pyrrhic chest-thumping. Zimbabwe was Africa’s bread basket with the best farms and roads in Africa and rich mineral resources.

When its despotic leader, Robert Mugabe, with support of his wife Grace Marufu started raping and pillaging the country under the guise of standing up to the West, Zimbabwe spiralled to a free fall and is now beyond a failed state.

Iran and Venezuela, though having the world’s largest oil and gas deposits, are unable to pump them as their oil infrastructure is in a state of disrepair owing to their intransigence against the West. When we look to such states as China, Iran, Venezuela and Libya in lieu of US and Britain, we are slowly accelerating our failed status. We rely on the West for our exports, tourists and financial aid. More than any other African country, we send our students to America.

Kenya may embrace the rogue nations but their reciprocal embrace is bereft of mutual love. Libya wants to buy us out, whilst China wants to make us a source for their raw materials. We have in place a system that rewards corrupt networks, patronage and negative ethnicity. In spite of this suffocation, resilient Kenyans manage to rise above.

But we cannot forever be a nation of survivors. The time is now that we live in a country that is truly part of the Western civilisation that allows individuals to succeed by the straps of their boot!

Metropolitan museum

During the recent UN General Assembly meetings in New York, Mr Obama and wife Michelle took photos at the Metropolitan Museum with each of the 130 state representatives and each session lasting less than two minutes.

Our Raila Odinga and Ida were in one of the 135 photos. But come to think about it, Mr Odinga may be luckier than President Kibaki. Daily, President Obama personally reads an average 10 letters chosen by his aides and he can respond to them by hand. The letters addressed to his attention, both by ordinary and electronic mail, are thousands.

The letter by President Kibaki is one of the thousands. At the best, President Kibaki’s letter may be opened and filed away by a White House mail sorter; at the worst, White House may RTS the letter.

Donald Kipkorir is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. dkipkorir@ktk.co.ke