United States Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman during a press briefing at the US Embassy in Nairobi.
Meg Whitman admitted several times she thought little about Africa, let alone Kenya, before she became ambassador to Nairobi.
As a tech executive during most of her career, Africa formed just about one percent on her priority list, she once told an audience.
Yet, her background did not help. She arrived in Kenya just a week to the General Election in 2022. William Ruto won those polls even though he had to ride a court challenge from the opposition then led by Raila Odinga, to become Kenya’s fifth President.
Away from the politics, Ms Whitman found a large in-tray of complaints about visa issuance delays. At the time, most Western countries were prioritising refugee visas to Ukrainians, and hence allocations to countries like Kenya were scarce. It is one of the complaints she helped handle, even though the visa fees have since risen.
Back to the politics, however, Ms Whitman pleased and annoyed in equal measure. At a conference on business, she told an audience in August last year of how “remarkable” Kenya had been ever since she set foot on these shores.
Then she added something that annoyed the opposition. She said the election had been “freest, fairest and most credible election in Kenyan history,” saying that many commentators had concluded the same.
An angry Raila Odinga would then call her a “rogue ambassador.”
“Kenya is not a colony of the United States. Keep your mouth shut. Otherwise, we will call for your recall back to your country,” Mr Odinga said.
Later, the two sort of mended fences, appearing in photo ops and at some events smiling.
Ms Whitman would repeat her line of marketing Kenya to American traders, often depicting the country as a better place to invest.
And as a former chief executive of top tech companies like eBay and HP, she used her connections in the American Chamber of Commerce to pitch Kenya to American business people. Some succeeded, others looked hopeful.
"I am proud of leading a people-centered agenda that saves lives, increases security, and creates economic opportunities for Kenyans and Americans. From delivering emergency funding to alleviate catastrophic flooding in 2023 to the ongoing fight against malaria, HIV, and MPOX, the US government prioritises the health and welfare of our friends in Kenya,” Ms Whitman said in a statement on Wednesday, indicating she had resigned.
Yet in most of that, she couldn’t still beat down the overall reason of why she was posted to Nairobi: To compete favourably with the steamrolling Chinese enterprise on African soil.
Ms Whitman arrived in Nairobi when the Chinese had built an Expressway to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. They had also built the Standard Gauge Railway and were discussing other projects after the Lamu Port.
In Nairobi, Kenya officially refused to be categorised as West or East-leaning.
“People want to pull us to a conversation on whether we are facing East or we are facing West. We are neither facing West nor East. We are facing forward where opportunities are," President Ruto in an interview with CNN's Richard Quest in May.
“We are working in a manner to make sure that opportunities are unlocked,” the Head of State added.
That interview happened during President Ruto's State Visit to Washington, a first by an African head of state in 16 years. This was credited to Ms Whitman's lobbying skills.
Out of that trip, Kenya was made a major non-Nato ally, becoming the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to reach this sort of cooperation. Most of the military benefits, however, would come at a fee on Nairobi.
On Wednesday, Ms Whitman highlighted her achievements in the position, citing the various trade, health and security deals that Kenya signed with the USA such as elevation of Kenya as its first major non-Nato ally in sub-Saharan Africa.
But she also rode criticism, with some critics saying she abandoned checking Nairobi’s excesses in rights violations, for business deals. Meg refuted that many times.
“We have been very clear, and actually very frank about the co-values that Kenya and the United states share…. and it is important that we compare notes on how we see each other on these values,” she said on Citizen TV in August, about the kind of discussions she holds with President Ruto.
Ms Whitman was especially criticised for not being vocal about violations of human rights, including abductions and disappearances of civilians especially after the Gen Z protests earlier in June.
It took about 10 days for the Western diplomatic missions to condemn the violence in a statement that the US Embassy also signed.
However, two weeks ago, Ms Whitman condemned reported police use of mobile phone tracking to nail suspects, following an expose by Nation.Africa.
Yet, critics accused her of refusing to append a signature on envoys’ statement calling for urgent investigations in disappearances.
“She wasn't a diplomat. She was a tech guru. Her enthusiasm to get deals done, especially those involving high-tech appeared to make her a surrogate of the Ruto Administration policy, a cheer leader for an increasingly autocratic government,” argued David Monda, Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York.
“She seemed more motivated at advancing US commercial interests and never quite came out against the rampant corruption and blatant misuse of public funds by the Ruto Administration. This seemed to give the Ruto Administration a carte blanche to steal and repress Kenyans more,” Monda told The EastAfrican on Wednesday.
Others compared her to past ambassadors such as Smith Hempstone, the first one to be called rogue ambassador in Kenya and William Hollingsworth Attwood, the first US envoy to Nairobi, both of who pushed American levers on Kenyan polity.
“Meg Whitman exits. Like Atwood & Hempstone before her, Mega was a quintessential ‘Americaniser,’ argued Peter Kagwanja, CEO of the Africa Policy Institute in Nairobi.
“Over-zealous to wipe out Chinese footprint and re-win Kenya for America, Meg became the best-ever marketer of Brand Kenya to American business bureaucrats.”
Lawyer Gitobu Imanyara publicly called on Trump to recall Whitman, saying “we as Kenyans have something to celebrate” if the new President ended her tenure.
Trump will now need not to do that. Instead, he will have to look for a new envoy for appointment to replace her.
To critics like Monda, Ms Whitman she failed most on democracy, rule of law and human rights especially in not coming out to support the legitimate protests of the Gen Z and the arbitrary 2024 Finance Bill.
“She never condemned strongly enough the brutality of the State. She came across to Kenyans as unempathetic or unconcerned with the extrajudicial killings, abductions and torture of Kenyans. Instead, she appeared side-by-side with President Ruto on numerous occasions in Kenya and in the US.
“Acts that were undiplomatic and reinforced her image of being too pro government. It reinforced Kenyan fears that this was a Washington drafted bill being forced on them through their government. If Smith Hempstone was the Rouge Ambassador, Meg would be the ‘Obsequious Ambassador ,’ excessively eager to please the Ruto Administration," Monda said.
Ms Whitman, replaced Kyle McCarter, an appointee of Donald Trump’s first term who had quit earlier in 2021 after Joe Biden replaced Trump. Both were political appointees, not mainstream diplomats.
By November 2024, Whitman had about a year left on her tenure, going by the American tradition of sending envoys to stations for three years, with rare exceptions of extensions.
Ms Whitman herself is a former Republican and was an unsuccessful contender for Governor of California seat in 2010. She was also a senior member of former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaigns. Romney lost to Barack Obama.
In the 2016 elections, however, Whitman threw her weight behind Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who lost to Donald Trump. In the 2020 polls she supported the outgoing President Joseph Biden.
Born in 1956 in New York, Whitman studied mathematics and science at Princeton University (1974) and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School (1979).
She has served in senior roles at some of the largest corporations in the world, having been an executive at Walt Disney in the 1980s.
On Wednesday, she expressed confidence that relationship between the Kenya and America will continue under the new administration.
“I have no doubt that our 60 years of partnership will continue to strengthen and serve Americans and Kenyans as we aim to build more prosperous, healthy, secure, and democratic nations. Our relations are stronger than ever, and I am confident this trajectory will continue. I will depart Kenya full of gratitude for the team that has worked tirelessly on my behalf, for the opportunity to serve my country, and for the friendship offered by the government and the people of the beautiful Republic of Kenya,” she said in her statement.
The Embassy will now be under the leadership of Chargé d'Affaires Marc Dillard.
