US envoy Meg Whitman speaks amid recall push by critics
United States Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman.
US Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman has defended her role and reaffirmed her commitment to positive US-Kenya relations in the face of calls from Kenyan opposition leaders and sections of the public for her to be recalled.
Critics have accused her of "meddling" in Kenyan affairs, particularly in her comments on the country's political landscape and electoral processes.
She has been accused by the opposition of flirting with the Ruto administration in violation of democratic principles, with critics using the election of Donald Trump as president to push for her recall.
Speaking at the devolution conference in August last year, Mr Raila Odinga had warned her to stay out of Kenya's affairs, saying Kenya was not a US colony and should be left to handle its internal affairs.
"Tell the rogue ambassador Kenya is not the United States. Kenya is not a colony of the United States. Keep your mouth shut while you are here. Otherwise, we will call for your recall back to your country," Mr Odinga said.
On Thursday, Ms Whitman said her priority remained strengthening diplomatic ties and promoting mutual cooperation between the two nations, especially on security and democratic values, even as opposition leaders included her recall among their expectations of the incoming Donald Trump administration.
Ms Whitman said the US embassy in Nairobi would continue to advance the shared goals of the two countries.
“Like all US ambassadors, I serve at the request of the President. The American people have spoken, and a new President will be inaugurated in January.
“Meanwhile, my team and I continue to work on advancing our nation's shared goals of increased prosperity, security, and respect for democratic values,” she said in a statement following the Nation’s inquiries on Thursday.
The relationship between the United States and Kenya, she said, has matured over the past 60 years and has enjoyed the support of a wide spectrum of political leaders in both Washington and Nairobi.
“Our relations have never been stronger and I am confident this trajectory will continue,” she said.
But Kenya's opposition leaders have issued their wish list for the incoming Trump administration, in a bid to strengthen future ties between Nairobi and Washington.
They shared priorities they hope the incoming Trump administration will address to improve relations between the two countries, including the recall of Ms Whitman.
They said that apart from fostering stronger economic partnerships, securing better trade agreements, enhancing security cooperation and promoting more favourable visa policies for Kenyan nationals to strengthen Kenya's diplomatic and economic ties with the US, the new administration needs to review the relationship between the Kenya Kwanza government and the outgoing Joe-Biden administration.
Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya principal Eugene Wamalwa said the incoming Trump administration must look into what he called possible "underhand financial dealings in support of Kenya's Haiti mission".
So far, Kenya and Jamaica are the only countries to have sent officers to the troubled Caribbean nation.
President Ruto had announced that an additional 600 police officers undergoing training would be deployed to Haiti this month as part of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission.
“We do believe there were some underhand dealings on the Haiti deal. So we would want the new administration to look into the issue of funding and whether everything was done properly in accordance to the US laws,” Mr Wamalwa said.
He said the country needs to know if there was any underhand funding deal “because we are told that our officers there are not properly remunerated.”
“We want to know where they money went, how much was given to Ruto and his rogue regime and how much has actually been remitted to the officers on the ground," the DAP-K party leader said.
Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua said the Trump administration needs to defund the Haiti mission and deploy a “non-partisan ambassador to Kenya.”
“I also hope the Haiti mission gets defunded…but as a Kenyan politician the immediate benefit of a Trump win is the prospects of Kenya getting a new US ambassador who will hopefully be non-partisan unlike the current one, who passes as an ally of the Kenya Kwanza regime,” the 2022 Azimio presidential running mate told the Nation.
Mr Wamalwa also revealed the need for the new US administration to address the rampant cases of human rights violations in Kenya, which he noted were at unprecedented levels.
“The fact that the Biden administration had actually turned a blind eye and had gone to bed with a ruthless dictator called William Ruto, despite his administration abetting matters of gross human rights violations, is a major concern to us.
“From last year there were demos here in Kenya against the Finance Bill 2023, this year we had the Gen Z demos against the Finance Bill 2024. At least 75 Kenyans were killed last year, over 60 Gen Zs were killed this year. Yet, the Biden administration had actually turned a blind eye to these gross violations of human rights because they were in bed with a dictator and right now we’ve been talking about abductions but they have been very half-hearted,” Mr Wamalwa said.
Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Mwangangi said there was a need for the US administration and Kenya to foster stronger economic partnerships.
“The two nations need to secure better trade agreements, enhance security cooperation, and promote a more favourable visa policy for Kenyan nationals to help strengthen diplomatic and economic ties between Kenya and the US,” Mr Mwangangi told the Nation.
Mr Mwangangi pointed out that there was hope that the Trump administration would also slow down the Russia-Ukraine war, a move that would reduce the high cost of living caused by the prolonged conflict.
“At least developing countries will benefit as the war has equally consumed huge resources that would be used to benefit African nations,” he said.
Since Trump does not prefer to impose certain conditions for Africans, such as LGBTQ, Mr Mwangangi said, “We hope this will help preserve Kenya’s religious values.”
Mr Wamalwa claimed that under the Biden administration, there were several strings attached to its funding related to LGBTQ.
“We would want to see a change in approach so that there is that mutual respect for our sovereignty and respect for African culture and our Christian and Muslim values. We expect the new administration to actually relook at these issues,” said Mr Wamalwa.
The current Biden administration, he added, had left Kenya at the mercy of “the Kenya Kwanza dictatorship”.
“We expect that with the change of administration, there will be a change in terms of their approach to doing things. The Trump regime has come at the right time when Kenya is hardest hit with increased abductions, enforced disappearances, and extra judicial killings; and so we would want the new administration to relook these issues.”
