Did Uhuru cancel UN meeting to save face?

Did President Uhuru Kenyatta’s last minute’s cancellation of the UN meeting have more to do with diplomatic fallout with the Obama administration than the fact that his deputy is away in The Hague answering charges of crimes against humanity against him?

Did the on-going ICC hearing in The Hague in fact, provide President Kenyatta with a perfect excuse to bale out of an international engagement that he knew was likely to prove more embarrassing to him than beneficial?

Did State House have problems processing a visa to the US for the president? Does the rumour that the Obama administration was toying with the idea of restricting President Uhuru’s movement during his time in the US have any credible roots?

EMPTY PROMISES

Did ambassador Macharia Kamau’s ‘overzealousness’ force State House handlers to make a promise they knew they could not keep? What has all these to do with the growing perception in the US and indeed the west that the Uhuru administration is in fact on the ropes as blows from ICC start raining on it and that this makes it very dangerous especially when it comes protecting human rights?

As the story of President Uhuru’s cancellation of the UN meeting, the first in over fifty years and its implications plays out both at home and abroad, these are some of the disturbing questions that are beginning to emerge.

On Friday, State House released a statement saying that Kenya's president will not attend the UN General Assembly because his deputy will be away on trial at the International Criminal Court.

Warning that the future cooperation with the ICC by Uhuru was in jeopardy, State House cited the skipping of the UN meeting as probable cause.

"Whereas very important multilateral and bilateral meetings had been planned for President (Uhuru) Kenyatta during the week, including a speech to the General Assembly, we very much regret that he cannot be out of the country at the same time as the deputy president," a statement said.

It added that Kenya's ambassador to the UN, Macharia Kamau, had been recalled to Nairobi for "consultations". The statement said Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, both of whom are accused by the ICC of crimes against humanity linked to 2007-2008 post-election violence, had so far "cooperated fully" with the Hague-based ICC.

But it warned that "the political space for continuous cooperation was rapidly being eroded and the country was weary that the dire consequences of these developments seemed to be lost on the ICC."

GROWING DIPLOMATIC SCHISM

Based on multiple interviews with people familiar with what has been happening behind the curtains, the Nation can reveal that the decision to skip the UN meeting was caused by mainly the growing diplomatic schism and fissures between Nairobi and Washington, DC.

A picture is emerging which shows that, The Hague issue that seemed to be a ‘small’ personal matter before the last general elections is in fact growing exponentially and morphing into an international nightmare for Kenya.

“It is true that under normal circumstances, it would be wrong to have both the president and his deputy away from the country. But, are we talking about normal circumstances in Kenya?

"When, and at what point did the president realise that they were both expected to attend ICC proceedings?” posed Jacktone Ambuka, a Kenyan scholar based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Mr Ambuka added that State House pulled out of the meeting to escape embarrassment in the US.

"America is not China or Russia where they welcome you with open hands even if you are facing some of the worst crimes against humanity as does Uhuru Kenyatta. It matters little that he was popularly elected president because the US knows exactly what happened in Kenya".

A source in Claymont, Delaware who works at the White House and who is familiar with what has been going on between Nairobi and Washington, DC told the Nation in confidence late Friday that in fact, president Obama's handlers were very happy with president Uhuru’s skipping of the UN meeting.

“His presence in the US was likely to strain the already shaky relationship we have with Kenya. President Obama cares about the people of Kenya but I can assure you that he would rather not meet with Uhuru or Ruto down the road as long as the ICC charges are still pending”. The source, who had just arrived from DC, said.

The source disclosed that, President Kenyatta, though popularly elected as the President late March this year in a process that turned democracy on its head, is considered by many in the US, including top Department of State officials as persona non grata because of the ICC charges.

Discounting rumours that President Uhuru had been denied a visa to travel to the US, the source said as Head of State, Uhuru is obligated to, and has a right to attend the annual meeting and as a host nation, America can’t deny him a visa.

“But, it is a blessing in disguise when such people make a decision on their own not to come to New York because then it saves us diplomatic embarrassments on the sidelines of the UN meeting.

The world knows the relationship president Obama has with the people of Kenya and some would have expected him to have a photo with Uhuru Kenyatta when he comes to New York next week,” he added.

The Nation has also learnt that ambassador Kamau Macharia’s frantic attempts to secure meetings for Uhuru with White House and Congressional committees officials on the sidelines of the UNGA meeting had born no meaning fruits as Washington tightens its resolve to give Uhuru a wide berth pending ICC proceedings.

It has also emerged that the Obama administration and its western allies are concerned about the behaviours of Kenyan lawmakers who have engineered the move for Kenya to pull out of the ICC.

EMERGING PATTERN

The Obama administrations see a pattern in the recent threats against human rights activists, ICC witnesses’ intimidations and cold blood assignations especially that of the Bungoma lawyer (related to his work with the people who disappeared in Mt Elgon) as a strategy by the Uhuru administration to abscond the ICC trial.

A Kenyan president coming to the US for the Annual Heads of States General Assembly in New York City is always a big event not only for the Kenya government but also for Kenyans living in the US.

Several meetings, consultations and get together are usually organised ahead of time, at times months in advance. The climax is a major town hall meeting held usually on the last day before the head of state departs for Kenya.

President Kenyatta has a lot of supporters in the US who were making preparations to travel to New York City to attend the town hall meeting. Mr Kamau Macharia, Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN, who has been acting more like a party activist than a diplomat, had already sent out a notice for the meeting before even confirming with State House that President Uhuru would indeed attend the UN meeting.

MEETING CANCELLED

On Friday, following State House’s cancelation of the US trip, Mr Macharia sent out a short notice announcing that the town hall meeting had been cancelled.

“We regret to inform you that the Kenya Diaspora Meeting with H.E. Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya tentatively scheduled earlier for Thursday 26 September, 2013 in New York is CANCELLED. The Permanent Mission of Kenya to the United Nations regrets any inconveniences occasioned by this cancellation.” The notice published in the Kenyan US based Internet news aggregators said.

According to this writer’s contacts at State House, in fact Mr Kamau’s recall to Nairobi has a lot to do with the way he handled the whole UN issue.

“We knew from the beginning that President Uhuru was not going to go to New York but the ambassador kept on telling the press that he was. At some point we also wondered where he was getting the information that we were going to go to the US from” The source, who requested anonymity, said on Thursday when reached to confirm whether that the president was traveling to New York.