Godec's tenure ends as Trump picks Swahili speaking businessman to replace him

Outgoing US Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec during the commissioning of a water project at Emining integrated day and boarding primary school. [Photo by Kipsang Joseph/Standard]

President Donald Trump has picked a Kiswahili-speaking US senator to replace long-serving ambassador Robert Godec in Nairobi.

Senator Kyle McCarter of downstate Lebanon and his wife, Victoria, have lived in Kenya doing charity work with Each One Feed One International, which has an office in Mukothima, in Tharaka Nithi County.

According to the White House, Mr McCarter served as a field auditor, missionary, and international director of the charity group based in Lebanon, Illinois.

On Wednesday afternoon, the White House announced that McCarter would replace Godec, whose tour of duty has expired after six years in Nairobi.

US Senate

The politician cum businessman's appointment, however, has to be approved by the US Senate before taking up the posting.

Godec winds up a long tour of duty ridden with controversy and a couple of firsts.

Godec becomes the longest serving US envoy, not just to Kenya but also in the world, having stayed for slightly over six years.

Most US ambassadors serve for three years.

His tour of tour of duty was extended twice, allowing him to oversee the August 2017 General Election and October 26 repeat presidential election.

Critics have accused Godec of openly siding with the Government in the face of rising accusations of human rights abuses, corruption, and electoral malpractices.

He became the first US ambassador in Kenya to face street protests by opposition supporters, who burnt his effigy and the US flag outside the embassy in Gigiri, accusing him of political bias.

Diplomacy pundits say Godec is a sharp contrast to his predecessors Smith Hempstone, William Bellamy, and Michael Ranneberger, who served during presidents Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki’s regimes.

Rogue ambassador

Hempstone, who served as the US envoy to Kenya between 1989 and 1993, earned the tag 'rogue ambassador' for piling pressure on the Moi government to end the single-party rule.

He was appointed ambassador to Kenya at a time when the United States was beginning to push African countries toward democracy and respect of human rights.

Moi accused Hempstone of aiding dissidents and befriending opponents of the administration, causing the African press to describe Hempstone's style as 'bulldozer diplomacy'.

Coalition government

Ambassador Ranneberger came in during the time of the grand coalition government formed by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Kibaki and Raila publicly chided Ranneberger following claims that the ambassador was organising and bankrolling the youth to take over.

Politicians allied to the grand coalition government convened press conferences demanding that then US President Barack Obama recall Ranneberger.