Obama invites President Kenyatta to attend historic conference in Washington

By Stephen Makabila

Sunday, July 27th 2014 

Nairobi, Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to make his first tour of the US since assuming office to attend the first ever US-African Summit scheduled for August 5 and 6 amid contrasting opinions about how Kenya will benefit from the summit.

The President is expected to attend the summit in Washington on the invitation of US President Barrack Obama. More than 50 African leaders will attend the White House’s first-ever Africa Summit, which the US administration has billed as a historic opportunity to promote its own Africa initiatives, identify trade partners, and foster much-needed counter-terrorism cooperation across the continent.

The Washington Summit will be the third major conference attended by President Kenyatta, who had earlier been to the European Union (EU)-African Summit in Brussels, Belgium and the Africa-Arab League Summit in Kuwait.

The Standard on Sunday has established Uhuru had opted to travel only after hitches that had earlier threatened to see him keep off the Washington summit were fixed by the US Government.

“First, the idea of attaching African Presidents attending the summit to Secretaries of State was not well received, and matters were complicated by the fact that there may not be a one-on-one encounter between African leaders and US President Barrack Obama,” said a State House source. The source indicated all that had been addressed and that President Kenyatta and other African leaders were expected to have a dinner hosted by Obama during the summit.

At a summit China hosted for African leaders in 2012, for instance, the Chinese premier essentially met dozens of African leaders in one-on-one sessions armed with translators.

Experts in international relations however feel Kenyatta’s visit to the US comes too late, and that had relations between the two countries been cordial, his first stop should have been Washington immediately after he assumed office.

“Former Kenyan Presidents toured US regularly, but since 2013, things have never been rosy, right from claims of choices have consequences ahead of the 2013 General Election, followed by a wait and see approach by Washington after the election and more recently travel advisories,” points out the Chief Executive of the African Policy Institute, Prof Peter Kagwanja.

Only this week, the US Government implemented massive funding cuts to civil organisations in the country’s health sector, especially those involved in the fight against HIV and Aids. This may in turn lead to massive job cuts and human suffering. Eliud Owalo, a Management Consultant based in Nairobi, says there is no tangible benefit that Kenya as a country will obtain from Kenyatta’s participation in the US Africa Summit.

“The Jubilee Government appears keen on jumping onto any slight opportunity that presents its leadership with the opportunity of hobnobbing with international leaders in a desperate attempt at gaining acceptability among the international community.

My considered opinion is that this remains a tall order so long as the twin-issues of the ICC case and the botched 2013 presidential elections remain unresolved,” said Mr Owalo who previously headed CORD leader Raila Odinga’s presidential campaign.

Indeed, only last month, the US Ambassador to Kenya, Robert F Godec came out strongly to defend the relationship between the two countries, describing it as ‘robust and resting on a rock solid foundation of shared values and interests’.

The lawyer is, however, guarded as at what stage they will confront the IEBC question. In the meantime, he observes, CORD will comply with all the constitutional dictates and timelines and strike only at the right time. Nonetheless, the drive by CORD has generated heat and discomfort within government and the Jubilee Alliance. Only a couple of days ago, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku claimed that the Opposition was promising to dish parcels of land to Kenyans as a bait to acquire their signatures for the referendum. CORD, which is yet to kick off the exercise, has since dismissed the claims as “sheer panic”.

In a detailed internal memo, a team of lawyers led by Jasper Mbiuki advises the Jubilee leadership to take the referendum push seriously. In the communication titled, “Calls for Referendum: Mere Rhetoric or Real Threat?” Mbiuki observes exercising the power to amend the Constitution “is a relatively easy and inexpensive matter for even a modestly resourced person or group of persons. Once the signatures are in place all the sponsors need to do is to draft a Bill, which they could do with the assistance of a third-year university law student.”

The lawyers single out approval by County Assemblies as perhaps the hardest hurdle but point out that where the proposal is excitable to the populace, or boosts financial capabilities of County Governments, it is unlikely that it will flop.

And noting that the CORD initiative will distract the Government “from the business of governance while keeping the embers of CORD support alive”, the Mbiuki team advises Jubilee to accommodate governors in defeating the exercise. An attached appendix maps out perceived neutral counties like, Nairobi, Lamu, Trans Nzoia, Kajiado and Kakamega, where Jubilee can put up a fight to win them over to deny CORD support from at least 24 counties.

But Magaya points out that such an argument is merely academic as in practical terms such a political zoning approach cannot stand in the way of real “burning issues” confronted by Kenyans. Saying the popular initiative is unstoppable, Magaya said the Constitution is silent on whether the process can be defeated if majority county assemblies fail to endorse it.

Teething impediments

“We have given deep thought to this idea and are alive to a host of impediments, which we have found a way around. We know exactly what Kenyans need at this point in time and we shall give it to them. In the long run the will of the people shall prevail,” said the CORD secretariat boss.

Eliud Owalo, who was head of Raila’s presidential campaign, warns that political zoning of counties ahead of the referendum will polarise the country even further. Jubilee, he claims, wants to muddy the situation as an excuse to deter CORD from carrying out its countrywide campaigns.

“They want the Opposition to keep off politics till 2017 yet the issues being advanced by CORD as a basis for the referendum are of immense public interest than the prayer rallies they previously engaged in for three years, which were purely personal issues about ICC.  To me, Uhuru and Ruto have become a monument of blatant inconsistency and contradictions,” reacts Owalo, a Nairobi-based management consultant.

On IEBC, Duale questions: “Between the donkey and the cart, which one do they wish to deal with first?” Another hurdle envisaged by Duale is the fact that the CORD team is dependent on the National Assembly’s House committee for budget appropriation to allocate cash for the referendum. And he wonders how all these will be achieved with Raila belittling Parliament  and creating cracks within CORD at the Coast region after dropping of Kilifi North MP, Gideon Mung’aro as Minority Chief Whip.