The United States is upping the ante on Kenyan officials, turning its anti-corruption rhetoric into action. Today, U.S. ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger said his country had threatened 15 Kenyans -- including government ministers, parliamentary secretaries and members of parliament -- with travel bans if they did not support reforms, including judicial reforms and changes in the police. He did not name the individuals. More importantly perhaps, he also threatened Kenya's international funds.
"The U.S. is indicating it will more closely scrutinise any proposals for Kenya in international financial institutions," he said, without giving any more details.
"These steps reflect the view at the highest levels of the U.S. government that implementation of the comprehensive reform agenda ... must proceed with a much greater sense of urgency," Ranneberger said in Nairobi.
"Doing so is crucial to the future democratic stability of Kenya ... Despite all the rhetoric and commissions and talk and all that, not much has happened"
Or in plainer speech: "These steps follow an awful lot of private diplomacy ... It goes hand-in-hand with what we said: No business as usual ...The people we've sent letters to are not thugs, they're not criminals. They're people we have dealt with over the years, people who can play a role helping to transform this country," he said.
Interestingly, however, Ranneberger said there was no plan to cut U.S. aid for Kenya -- up to 3 billion dollars in aid, trade deals and tourism revenues, according to AFP. So I guess there is still room to tighten the screws a little further if this latest salvo goes unheeded.
Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Kenya does not respond to activism diplomacy.
If you are interested in Somalia, this piece offers an interesting and intelligent take on why the international community is so ill-equipped to intervene in any meaningful way to lift the country out of its meltdown.
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