Ambassador Meg Whitman is accused of fanning the chaos by misleading President William Ruto into thinking he could do IMF’s bidding without consequences
By THEDISPATCH.DIGITAL REPORTER
The United States embassy to Nairobi has urged Kenyan police to exercise restraint and protect the rights of people to demonstrate peacefully. In a statement released on Thursday evening, the embassy, whose ambassador, Meg Whitman, has beeb one of President William Ruto’s backers and organised his recent State Visit to Washington, said it was concerned by reports of violence, including shootings and abductions of protestors and journalists.
“We call on provocateurs to avoid blocking roads and looting businesses,” it said. “All actors – police and protestors alike – should repudiate violence and be held accountable for wrongdoing.”
“The embassy notes the government’s July 18 remarks about addressing public grievances and encourages the government to continue taking steps forward, including on corruption and accountability, to promote national unity and reconciliation.”
Although the statement was welcomed by many of the Kenyans contacted by this writer, some felt that Ambassador Whitman, unlike her predecessors like the late Smith Hempstone and Michael Ranneberger who supported political reform and democracy, has been a collaborator of the current regime, which they felt she emboldened to initiate the taxation measures that eventually raptured the balloon of peace.
“She misled (President William) Ruto to think he could do as he pleased because he had the backing of the US,” said Michael Karanja in Nairobi. “Had she not been so close to the government and pushing the IMF agenda in Kenya, Ruto and the country would not be where they are now. It’s all thanks to her lack of experience and zealousness to do things she has no competence for.”