Diplomatic gaffe by Amb. Rateng Oginga Ogego

[job]

Here is what the recently appointed Kenyan Ambasador to the US, Mr. Rateng Ogego wrote to Sen. Obama and copied to the State Department, and to local and international media.

That this sycophantic ranting is coming from one of yesterday's second-liberators is quite sickening. Little did I expect that sycophantic temptations would cloud his thinking and lead him into such irrational statements, breaking traditional diplomatic protocol.

www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143957666

Mr Rateng,

I certainly know you read from the jukwaa proboard, and
here is what I honestly think you did,.......gaffed big time.

Diplomatic etiquette and protocol demands from a newly posted Ambassador that he/she only makes official statements on behalf of his/her government after presenting his/her credentials to the hosting head of state. You know too well you have not.

Kenya's newly assigned Ambassador to the US, at Washington DC, Mr Rateng Oginga Ogego has just broken protocol number one, by arrogating himself status that he does not yet possess; all at the alter of court jesting and singing platitudes ridden with sycophancy. Mr. Rateng who has just barely arrived in Washington DC, must wait to present his papers to President Bush, before he embarks on his tirade against Senator Obama while seeking the attention of his master in Nairobi.

Rateng further breaks protocol by mixing politics and diplomacy. His official statements must be purely guided by language laden with diplomatic etiquette rather than political vibes. Sensational and political dispatch to the media has never been part of diplomacy.

Let Rateng simply understand that with regard to African affairs and particularly Kenyan matters, the Republican government of President George Bush will believe the word of the Democratic Senator Barack Obama, any day in preference to his letters,..... take this to the bank.

Rateng must first learn more about the US before unceremoniously gaffing through uninformed statements. To any American, Democrat or Republican, a phone conversation between Bush and Obama is more credible and holds more weight than one between Bush and Kibaki, leave alone Rateng, end of story.

That Mr. Rateng further writes to the State Department blasting Sen. Obama exposes either his diplomatic naivety or an extension of the arrogance and impunity currently manifesting in Nairobi ; who knows Rateng at the State Department when he has not officially introduced himself at the White House? Why jump the gun breaking protocol, just to play the tune called by his piper, Mr. Raphael Tuju, Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister, in a consequential effort to please the boss President Kibaki.

Can you please take your credentials to Bush first and learn more about the local environment before bloating your status aimlessly.

It is simply disingenuous for Mr. Rateng Ogego to officially misrepresent and distort facts about Kenya to the State Department by claiming that majority of Kenyans are unhappy with Sen. Obama's recent rebuke of the Kenyan government with regard to corruption and tribalism.

The truth of the matter is that majority of Kenyans decry the treacherous levels of tribalism and corruption currently crippling the country and have even expresed such sentiments to the very State Department Rateng writes to. Rateng may have infact just opened a can of worms with regards to the US-Kenya relations, because the truth will now come out relentlessly and resonate more in Washington DC, even to the ears of Congressmen and Senators who have no idea where Kenya is located .

Both corruption and tribalism have reached crisis proportions in Kenya, visible to all, and whose signs and symptoms are exposed in broad daylight. Chicago based reporters and media-crew accompanying Sen. Obama during his Kenyan visit witnessed first-hand corruption at the JKIA Airport, Nairobi, when local customs officials allegedly demanded bribes from them. The cancer of corruption must be dealt with through forthrightness and fortitude. Rateng must keep the act of trumpeting blatant lies out of his official roles and functions.

Sen. Obama like most Kenyans, praised former Anti-corruption czar John Githongo for exposing grand corruption in the form of Anglo Leasing scandal. What ills do most Kenyans repeatedly complain about today? Corruption and Tribalism! Rateng will not veil any of this at Washington DC, since the US government has its eyes and ears on the ground in Kenya through its Nairobi Embassy. The US Ambassador in Nairobi has indeed positioned himself at the forefront in demanding answers from the Kenyan government with regards to corruption, media freedom, and foot-dragging of the constitution review process.

Rateng should also realize that Sen. Obama sits in among others, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, specifically in the US-African Affairs sub-committee and from that vantage has sway and influence in the shaping of US-African relations notwithstanding his status as a Democrat currently in the opposition. Sen. Obama's position makes him privy to certain classified intelligence and information and any remarks attributed to him should be taken very seriously by both Rateng and his boss Tuju.

The Illinois Senator is acutely aware of the connection between corruption, tribalism and insecurity and their ultimate facilitation of terrorism, money laundering and illegal drug activities.

Particular attention should be paid to Sen. Obama's claim that crooked elements in the Narc administration of Kibaki are protecting the wanted instigator of Rwanda genocide Mr. Felicen Kabuga. Cautious and polite diplomacy coupled with internal investigation is called for with regard to this serious security claim which actually reflects the official position of the US government. This security issue must not simplistically be reduced to a " personal remark" by Sen. Obama.

Just recently, the issue of glaring insecurity in Kenya was brought to the world's attention by the entry and protection by Kibaki's Narc government, of international criminals and mercenaries (purported also to be Armenian hit-men for hire), wanted by interpol.

These State protected criminals literally took Kenya hostage for months, conducting their underhand activities and harming or threatening citizens. They allegedly oversaw the commission of the worst form of terrorism in the history of Kenya's media, during the raid on The Standard Newspaper plant and KTN broadcasting station. This brazen act was later admitted to by the Internal Security Minister, John Michuki. Is Sen. Obama making up stories of insecurity in Kenya?

The Kenyan government must rise to the occasion and discard this official attitude of casual denial, credulous guilt, evasiveness and disingenuity with regard to corruption, tribalism and insecurity. Rateng and Tuju must also desist the temptation of unilaterally mixing up politics with diplomacy, lest they further jeopardize the fragile Kenya-US relationship. They may not be helping Kibaki at all, but only hurting his image.

The US public currently concerned and preoccupied with efforts to combat Terrorism has learnt through media reports about Al-Quaeda's 1998 US-Embassy bombing in Nairobi, and specifically how some of Osama bin Ladin's operatives found their entry to Kenya through forged documents, facilitated by corrupt Kenyan immigration-entry officials.

Neither Sen. Obama nor his senior Illinois US Senate compatriot Sen. Dick Durbin, were the first to express concerns about ties between corruption, insecurity and terrorism. The US media has been awash with reports tying the three for a long time, even prior to Sen. Obama's election to the senate.

Corruption, which is made easier by nepotism and tribalism, are facilitators of insecurity and terrorism, and the faster Kenyan officials address these issues, the better for the Kenyan public. Kenya will remain in the US watch list of "travel warning areas" as long as corruption and insecurity matters are casually kept at the back-burner, an attitude further echoed by complicit Kenyan overseas envoys like Rateng.

Let us all rise collectively to help the nation called Kenya, face corruption, tribalism, insecurity, and terrorism head-on rather than bury our heads in sand like Rateng and the Narc administration is currently trying to do.

unedited.

Job

[mzee]

JOB, well said.
If Kenyans, like Rateng, dont accept Kenyas short comings then our country will never improve nor prosper.

[mossad]

Job

You've said all i could have told Mr Rateng and especially on trying to learn how things work in the USA. I wish i can tell Mr Rateng that this is not a British system where sycophancy, silliness and hero worship are the order of the day. Things here work differently especilly by trying to create a warm relationship b/t Mr Obama and the Ambasador.
By insulting and telling the senator off, mr Rateng might have lost the best opportunity to have a direct link to the best lobby for the pple of kenya. I wish he first learnt the system before trying to please Kibaki.

Mossad.

[kamalet]

Whilst Obama is within his rights to say whatever he wishes to the Kenyan public, I do not think the solutions to the ogre of corruption lie with constant bashing of those who should be leading the fight to stop it, more so in the public domain.

The fact that corruption is endemic in Kenya is known the world over. What the likes of Obama should do (in my view) is to constructively engage the government to stop the scourge as well as help fund some of the interventions that the government is involved in.

Unfortunately public posturing over the issue only generates political heat without helping stall the scourge. I will fault Obama on this!

[mongobeti]

kamalet said:

Whilst Obama is within his rights to say whatever he wishes to the Kenyan public, I do not think the solutions to the ogre of corruption lie with constant bashing of those who should be leading the fight to stop it, more so in the public domain.

The fact that corruption is endemic in Kenya is known the world over. What the likes of Obama should do (in my view) is to constructively engage the government to stop the scourge as well as help fund some of the interventions that the government is involved in.

Unfortunately public posturing over the issue only generates political heat without helping stall the scourge. I will fault Obama on this!

Constructively engage the Govt he sure did!He met Kibaki and im sure it was just not about niceties and pleasantries but also serious issues concerning Kenya. A press briefing after the meeting told as much.

Did u truly expect Obama to stand in the hallowed taifa hall to praise Kibaki and the Govt for bringing to book Goldenburg and Anglo-leasing culprits. The Taifa hall was a candid affair, and that is what it was meant to be, given the type of audience, mainly students and academia. If u do not accept open discussion of corruption and tribalism in PUBLIC then how are u going to fight them?

[kamalet]

I certainly did not expect Obama to stand in Taifa Hall to praise Kibaki or his government - that Kenyans will do come December 2007 if they think he is worth their praise.

Unfortunately, you missed my point. Corruption will not be wiped out by declarations of its presence in auditoriums or political rallies neither will the constant reminding by local or foreign politicians. It requires a lot more. Take for instance the Mutava Musyimi initiative which has finally found its way on national TV - this is where the government needs help in nurturing such initiatives so that all Kenyans can engage.

As one Kiraitu Murungi said, fighting corruption must be for Kenyans and not foreigner benefit. What Obama did is not any different to pronouncements by Clay of the UK. None of these will stop corruption or even the bigger danger tribalism that threatens this country!!

Obama did not need to remind Kenyans that they are naked, they know that. What he should have done is tell them how to clothe themselves by going out to work or do things that will help them as he did in achieving his american dream!

[politicalmaniac]

Kamale,
Kenyans are famously amnestic!
They have even forgotten about the arturs and how the defiled our system of GOVT let alone the prezzo's daughter! The shame, the anger, that accrued after the infamous artur saga is now in the back burner.
The outrage after the Githongo dossier, has dissipated.
So the Obama mama reminder was apt.

And Job congrats. You write very well. Miguna had already written about the metamorphosis of rateng into a veritable sycophant by the time the hanger on was moving into his current post.