1. COMPLICATION AND IMPLICATIONS IN OBAMA’S
KENYA VISIT
Being unpredictable is baulking to say the least. It disturbs the mindset, and sends
people’s conscience back to the drawing board. If President Obama had been
aware of Uhuru Kenyatta’s unpredictability then perhaps he would not have
deigned to pay Kenya a visit. Why?
The United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, was visiting Kenya in 5 days.
Former President Mr. Bill Clinton was coming in 3 days. Then there was the host
president, Uhuru Kenyatta, climbing his presidential jet headed to America for a
period of two weeks. He was going to attend a discredited conference organized by
his tribesmen in the US and hosted by a man in the books of US security as a a
former jailbird and criminal. Obama had avoided Kenya previously precisely
because Uhuru was a suspected criminal. Now the former criminal suspect was
headed to America for a meeting with a confirmed former criminal and jailbird, at
a time the American president was set to visit Kenya and had sent an advance team
of 200 service men. What does one make of it? John Kerry was coming to prepare
ground for his president’s visit. Kerry is an equivalent of an African head of state,
an influential one at that. Now who did Kenya’s president expect to receive the top
diplomat in his absence? Does it mean he did not approve of Kerry’s visit, and by
extension Obama’s? He is on record inviting Obama to Kenya, and bragged to the
British that Obama was coming to Kenya after all. Or was he scared of the
presence of the special service men already in the country? Does he have
something he thinks they would not be comfortable with?
Uhuru was furious when his plane was turned back mid air in Ethiopia, as he
headed to Dubai eventually connecting to America. His fury and disappointment,
nay, devastation, was that his own friend, Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam
Dessalign, with whom they had pretty good rapport over South Sudan crisis, could
accept to turn back his aircraft. But Dessalign is pragmatic when it comes to

2. diplomatic issues. He wanted to arrest South Sudan president Kiir Mayardit when
Kiir refused to sign their country’s peace accord in Addis Ababa. In fact Kiir
lamented he had to avoid arrest by signing. Likewise when he got the instruction to
turn Uhuru’s plane back, he did just that. So Kenya’s protest notes to his Country’s
ambassador amount to nothing.
That is just one incident about President Obama’s planned visit to Kenya. Pressure
is mounting in the US itself, how come he is visiting a notoriously corrupt country
whose leadership is under criminal scrutiny? Although Uhuru’s case at the
International Criminal Court has been withdrawn, the prosecutor Ms Fatou
Bensouda has specifically stressed that the case is not dismissed, and that the
withdrawal is a temporary measure subject to emergent evidence and the position
of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP). So specifically, Uhuru Kenyatta is still
the court’s suspect, while his deputy William Ruto’s case is nearing completion.
Indeed, when John Kerry visited Kenya they took care not to allow Ruto anywhere
near him. Obviously they are planning to do the same when President Obama
visits. Many observers, mostly in the US, feel that hiding Ruto away from time to
time would not do. The cat and mouse game is not worthy of politics at their level.
For sure the president has always got out of his way to defend his deputy on I.C.C.
matters regardless of the legal and factual implications. If the president had wanted
to be clean on this matter, he should have relieved his deputy of his number two
role. Hiring and defending a criminal suspect has its implications on governance.
In general, the deputy’s public conduct locally has left a lot to be desired, even by
the shoddy local standards, as corruption and land grabbing claims have continued
to dog him. An Eldoret court even found him guilty of acquiring a displaced
person’s 100 acre prime land, illegally, which is one of the accusations he faces at
the Hague. Even if the American President does not greet him, he is part of the
presidency which Obama will be dealing with, as a co-principal. It will be even
discriminatory on the part of Obama to ignore his role which his partner cherishes.

3. President Barrack Obama is going to be the first western president to be officially
received by Uhuru. Although he is going to be an ex-president in one and a half
years, the perception of American president dealing with questionable, leaders,
some people feel, might tarnish the image of his office and even his party.
Recently Britain conducted a general election where very insignificant issues
played a very crucial role in the outcome and it could be the same elsewhere. That
is why western leaders have not been taking chances with Uhuru’s situation.
On the other hand, Obama is first and foremost a politician. Politicians are often
more concerned about impact than legal or diplomatic niceties. Although his visit
might not depict America as caring about the human rights abuses in Kenya, it is
important to get to know these discredited leaders well so along term solution
would be worked out regarding Kenya. Looking at the bigger picture, to give them
a wide berth would throw them into the arms of rogues. The west is lucky in that
Uhuru has realized that China would be no substitute to the west as China has its
limitations in terms of financing foreign governments. This has forced Uhuru to
seek rapport with the west and Obama has taken the cue, seeing the need to
capitalize on the sudden change of heart, Indeed, everything was moving on
smoothly, Uhuru going to the US and meeting the first family, a relationship
picking up in spite of the constant bad news and inefficiency witnessed in Kenya’s
conduct of public affairs, daily. Obama braved all this, and declared he was
definitely coming to Kenya. Then Uhuru almost messed up the whole thing with
his confused attempt to avoid both Clinton and Kerry. Nobody can really
understand why he was doing this, and what his advisors were thinking. His
behaviour has given the US critics ammunition to launch querries about the visit
and even expenses involved. But Obama is cute, insisting that the conference is all
about business, dubbing it Global Entrepreneurship Summit. He has confounded
his critics by down-grading the event from a state visit to attending a conference.
The duration of the visit has also been down-sized from the expected three days to

4. a mere six hours. No elaborate receptions, state dinners and such like. Moreover a
recent report has indicated that Kenya’s business with the US in the past one year
has exceeded its dealings with all countries of Africa combined, save for East
Africa. That is Obama’s bigger picture, supposedly.
BY;-
FREDERICK OWINO OYARO
Email: Frederickoyaro@gmail.com