Be blunt with Jubilee leaders on key issues, top diplomats tell Obama

Two former top US officials want President Barack Obama to act tough on the Jubilee government this week when he visits Kenya, in remarks likely to unsettle President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration.

In an advisory likely to cause unease among President Kenyatta’s inner circle, former Assistant Secretary of State, Johnnie Carson, and former ambassador William Bellamy have warned that President Obama would be seen to be abetting some of Jubilee government’s excesses if he treats the Kenyatta administration with velvet gloves during his trip.

They want him to be blunt with the country’s leadership on fundamental issues such as corruption, the war on terror and the treatment of civil society, warning that “he will encounter a prickly and defensive Kenyan government”.

“While the President (Obama) is assured of an enthusiastic popular welcome in Kenya, President Uhuru Kenyatta's supporters bristle when Americans or other Westerners question their government's policies or performance. Over the past two years, they have repeatedly accused the US of trying to undermine, or even overthrow, the Kenyatta government by financing local non-governmental organisations. However far-fetched this rhetoric, Mr Obama will have to take it into account," Carson and Bellamy wrote in a joint commentary first published in the influential New York Times. (See also page 13)

Uhuru and Obama are expected to hold talks at State House, Nairobi, on Saturday and the stinging opinion could be interpreted as intended to influence the discussions.

Today President Kenyatta is expected to brief the nation on the US president's upcoming visit.

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The opinion of the two top diplomats carries weight as they are regarded as some of America's foremost experts on African issues. Carson served as ambassador in several African countries, including Kenya.

He later served as US assistant secretary of state for African affairs. He is currently the senior advisor to the president of the United States Institute of Peace.

Bellamy is a senior advisor for Africa at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

But it is Carson's latest comments that will be especially poignant as he will be remembered for his "choices have consequences" speech that warned against electing the Kenyan president and his deputy during the last general election. At the time, both were facing criminal charges at The Hague.

"President Obama must tread carefully, but not silently, when addressing fundamental issues of democratic governance. Kenyans will want to hear his views - an appeal he must answer," they have advised.

Should Obama take Carson and Bellamy's advice on the war on terror, then the Jubilee administration would be hard pressed to show that it has been decisive in dealing with the threat.

Carson and Bellamy, in the article, blame "weak leadership and corruption" for failure to pre-empt terrorist attacks in Kenya, noting that "rather than address those, President Kenyatta's administration has moved to restrict media coverage of terrorist attacks and crack down on businesses, civic organisations and entire communities it charges are sympathetic to the Islamist insurgency".

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"Privately, he (Obama) should be very direct with Kenya's leaders, warning that Kenya's prosperity and its democratic form of government, as well as its historically close relationship with the US, are best protected by more reform and less scapegoating of doubters and dissenters," they wrote.

The added: "Indeed, many Kenyans fear if Obama does not challenge the government's treatment of its critics, the lapse will be interpreted as a green light to continue cracking down in the name of Kenya's own war on terror."

The war on terror would, in all probability, be on President Obama's mind when he visits the country of his father's birth and the two diplomats are unforgiving in their assessment.

"Corruption at high levels must be rooted out. Doctrine must change to prioritise the protection of civilian populations. Less rivalry and better coordination among all agencies - intelligence, police and military  - are essential if further tragedies like Westgate and Garissa are to be avoided. More prosecutors, judges and judicial infrastructure are also urgently required so that Kenya can confront the terrorist threat in a manner that respects the rule of law," they said.

The article could be interpreted as raining on the Government's parade in the run-up to the highly anticipated visit.

Since the White House announced the trip a few months ago, the Government has been keen to trumpet Obama's homecoming as a show of confidence by the Western power in Kenya's political, economic and political stewardship.

The economic gains likely to accrue from the visit have also buoyed the Jubilee government, which has been keen to show it is finally in the good books of the West.

Recently, a number of Jubilee leaders have warned the Opposition against "washing the country's dirty linen in public" during the visit.

Carson and Bellamy turn away from their criticism, however briefly, to acknowledge that the country has made huge strides in development, and want Obama to pay keen attention to the emergence of Kenya as an African economic giant.

They have singled out strides in technological innovation as some of the achievements of the last few decades and want Obama to use it as a spring board to closer economic ties with the country.

"Kenyans now have progress to celebrate, and Obama will no doubt enthusiastically acknowledge it," they wrote, noting however, recent economic developments have widened the gap between the rich and the poor.