Is Uhuru on his way to being the next East African authoritarian American darling? [originally I asked in April 2013; we are moving that much more quickly along the path with Secretary Kerry’s current visit ahead of Obama in July, as further allegedly necessitated by the Uhuruto administration’s conspicuous incompetence on “security”]
AFRICOMMONS
Ken Flottman’s Blog on Democracy in Kenya, East Africa and the United States
In view of the Jubilee Administration’s successive and multiple failures in the area of security there seems to be some forlorn American hope that a two day visit by the Secretary of State will somehow turn around this steadily deteriorating situation. Were the United States to appoint a dynamic Ambassador–completely divorced from any complicity with Kenya’s political class and also not merely a time server–with a mandate to ensure that American support for Kenyan security forces is used effectively and in accordance with its own legislation there would be lasting significance to Kerry’s visit.
Unfortunately John Kerry’s visit will be spun by the Jubilee PR machine as demonstrating unalloyed and unconditional US support for GOK security and economic policies and will be touted as a moral victory for Uhuruto staying the course since the 2013 elections. American foreign policy seems to have become all about putting out fires, unsuccessfully, and defeating terrorism with photo ops.
State House Kenya in 2015 has about has about as much competence in fighting Al Shabaab as did the Diem Regime in Saigion when it came to fighting the Viet Cong in 1962!